Moving Forward
by CommanderGalen
Summary: Set after the events of the game. It has been a few months since Akira went back to his hometown and the others struggle to find some upsides when returning to school from their summer break. None more so than Ryuji as he tries to find something to fill the void that his best friend left behind. Rating bumped up to M due to dealing with a pretty serious topic.
1. How to Proceed

The autumn breeze swiftly settles over the country of Japan. Schools prepare to welcome back their student bodies as said student bodies lament the very idea of returning. Regret settles in with some, upset with any missed opportunities that may have popped up on their path back to their normal schedules; others are satisfied with what they've accomplished over the summer break, barely even noticing the shift from a worry-free lifestyle to a strict and scheduled everyday life. Yes, some are happy and some are not.

But there's a select few whose entire situation differs from the rest.

Ryuji Sakamoto checks his phone as he felt a harsh vibration buzz. He felt unsure about returning the school after all the events that had transpired over the past almost nine months: the Phantom Thieves disbanding, their fearless leader being put into juvie, only to be subsequently released not but a few months later, and finally Akira's moving back to his hometown. When the group took him, along with Morgana, back and left, there felt like a void was left behind. Ann, Haru, and Futaba did their best to keep themselves composed, letting a few tears slip through the cracks. Yusuke, usually always so elegant and graceful, felt disgusted about the whole ordeal, failing to find words of artistry that would befit the setting. Makoto, the entirety of the drive home, just tightly gripped the steering wheel, consciously checking to make sure her knuckles weren't changing colors from how much stress she was putting on them. And as for Ryuji, what could he say? He was not only losing his leader, one of the best people he ever had the pleasure of knowing, but his best friend too. Sure, they could all still keep in touch with each other, but it just wouldn't be the same as being able to physically hang out with the group. He wouldn't be able to jostle Akira like he normally could, or argue with Morgana, and he couldn't even mess around with some of the others as much due to going to different schools.

 _I dunno,_ Ryuji thought as he swiped the screen on his phone to pull up his texts. _We'll just have to see, huh?_ _Ugh, what the hell am I worryin' about? Everything's gonna be alright._

To his surprise, the message was from their former leader to the whole group. He cracked a smile as he opened it up to read it.

 **Akira:** _Hey guys! Today most of you go back from the summer break right?_

 **Ann:** _Yeah…_

 **Ryuji:** _Mhm_

 **Futaba:** _Yep._

Akira, who was also on his way back to school in his hometown, put on a frown as he read his friends' messages. He knew that this situation had taken its toll on them and he couldn't really fault them, but it had also been months since he had actually moved away. Sure he didn't have time to visit them over the summer break and perhaps that was a mistake on his part for not being to allocate any time for his friends. Akira just sighed heavily before going back to trying to cheer up his friends.

 **Akira:** _Hey, I know I haven't seen you guys in a while, but you've done fine without me so far! Why are you all just so gloomy_ _ **now?**_

He waited impatiently as dots filled out of the bottom of his screen, wanting to see who the first responder would be. Although, when he received the next message, it wasn't from who he was really expecting.

 **Makoto:** _I can't really blame them Akira. And frankly, when you bring up how long it has been since we've last seen you, it just rubs salt in the wounds._

 **Yusuke:** _It has been a criminal amount of time since we've all seen each other, I must admit._

 **Haru:** _I agree! This just doesn't feel right and Makoto and I aren't even students of Shujin anymore!_

 **Ryuji:** _We're not blaming ya man, it's just an awkward spot for us, y'know?_

Akira sighed heavily. He completely understood as he missed them every single passing moment of every single day. Akira couldn't forget all the time he spent with them whether it was going to an art gallery with Yusuke, helping Ann become a better model, or just hanging out with Ryuji at his favorite ramen shop. Everybody's interests differed so greatly and because of that, Akira could only thank them as it helped him grow with them not only as friends, but as a human being. He scratched his head, trying to think of what to say next.

 **Akira:** _I'm not saying you guys don't have a reason to be upset or depressed. I don't want to have us just "move on" from each other like this Phantom Thief stuff wasn't ever a thing. But we all also have responsibilities that we have to carry out. So do me a favor and I'll promise you all this as well, and don't try to run away from them or be sad about them. Don't lose your heads over this and just try sticking through it all to the end. I swear I'll visit you guys sometime, I just have to find the time for it._

There were several agonizing seconds of waiting as Akira slowly approached the front steps of his school. He stopped just outside, letting everyone have a moment to finish up whatever thoughts that they had and possibly sending one last message before he had to go in.

 **Futaba:** _You better keep your promise!_

 **Yusuke:** _I wholeheartedly agree._

 **Haru:** _I hope school will go well for all of you!_

 **Makoto:** _Don't slip up on any of your studies. I may not be there to help all of you but I'll certainly be keeping tabs._

 **Ryuji:** _Yeesh, this chick…_

 **Makoto:** _I see Sakamoto still doesn't understand the presence a Queen holds over her subjects._

 **Ann:** _Ryuji!_

 **Futaba:** _He still lacks tact._

 **Ryuji:** _What'd I do?_

Akira smirked and let out a small hearty chuckle. He replied a simple farewell and slipped his phone back into his pocket as he entered into the school, a heavy weight starting to lift itself off his shoulders.

Ryuji, unaware of the wrath that he may've just unleashed upon himself, let out a breath of air and put his phone in his Shujin uniform's ugly pants pocket. He already dreaded coming back to this place and the last thing he needed was a girl like Makoto breathing down his neck. But he accepted the matter as _whatever happens, happens_ and went along his business.

The faux-blonde boy exited the subway, leading him out onto the concrete where he'd have to walk the rest of the way to his own little personal slice of hell.

 _Damn,_ he thinks to himself as he reaches the halfway point between the station and the school. _This brings back some memories every single time I walk past this damned spot._ Ryuji's corners of his mouth curve upwards slightly as he reminisces of the time when he had first met his best friend, Akira.

* * *

"Y'know," Ryuji began through mouthfuls of rice. "Akira can talk all he wants, but I'm sure he misses the hell outta us right now." The group of three Shujin students had decided to spend their mid-day break together, gathering at a table to sit down. Ryuji took this as an opportunity to open up a bento box that his mother had taken the time to pack him.

"Wow, tell me more Holmes." Futaba didn't even bother looking up from her phone.

Ryuji cocked an eyebrow. "Who the fuck's that?" Futaba rolled her eyes and looked over to her other blonde friend, giving her a look that screamed _you take care of this._

Ann shifted her legs, "It isn't like he was going to tell us if he was in the same rut as us anyways." She rested her head on her palm. "I wish we could do more for him."

"Ugh, this is such bullshit." Ryuji stood up from the table in a sudden fit of anger, going over to throw away a few things in the trash can.

Futaba closed her eyes and sighed heavily. As Ryuji was approaching the table to sit back down, she decided to add to the conversation what little she cared to. "Maybe, instead of being a bunch of clucking chickens, you nerds look intoooooo," The small redhead started spinning her wrists, trying to get her train of thought straightened out. With a snap of her fingers, she pointed at Ryuji as it hit her. "plans for a trip to see him!"

Ryuji, admittedly excited at first, dropped his head. "Uggggggh, Futaba…"

"What?" The girl asked pensively.

"I know you think we're not exactly up there with you with the whole IQ thing, but you're actin' like we never even thought of that before." Ryuji scratched the back of his head in some fit of frustration.

Futaba looked at the ground and clenched her teeth. "Well, can ya really blame me…"

"Trust me, we've been trying to think of something that would work for all of us." Ann followed up, ignoring that snide remark. "But trying to find something that'll work out for all of us is harder than you'd think. Now that Makoto and Haru are busy with college, we can't really do things as freely as we used to. And who knows what Yusuke's doing." Ann shrugged.

The trio let out a collective sigh. They all wanted to be able to hang out with their friends as one whole group again, but time constraints made that almost impossible. The former thieves of hearts, without their leader, were unsure about their next move.

"Well," Futaba began. "We might have to accept that we're only really going to be able to meet together as a group once or twice a year."

"Yeah, looks like it." Ryuji stated. "This growin' up shit sucks."

"We were going to have to face it eventually. We're not exactly kids anymore. This is going to be our last year of high school." Ann grimaced.

Ryuji smirked. "Hey, don't look sad. You always lo-"

"Yeah, look ugly when I'm sad. I get it Ryuji." Ann rolled her eyes. "You know, you don't have to be a dick about it."

"What? I'm just jokin'. Trying to lighten up the mood, y'know?"

"Making me feel crappy about my looks lightens up the mood? You know my job revolves around this, right?" Ann made a circling motion around her face.

"Ann, I wasn't trying to go and start anything. Just calm down, it was a joke." Ryuji held up his hands apprehensively.

"Maybe think of how I feel for once, Ryuji. Have you ever thought about how much I hate dealing with your shit?" Ann asked sternly.

Ryuji's face turned downwards into a scowl. "What the hell? Don't give me that crap. For the past year and a half I had to deal with you and that stupid cat giving me hell about how dumb I am!"

"That's different!"

"How the fuck is that different?! Because I don't make money off me being an idiot that makes it okay to give me shit about it all the time?!"

"Ryuji, that's not what I meant! Futaba knows what I mean! Right Futaba?" Ann turned to their redhead friend.

But when the two bickering students turned to where their other friend was sitting, they found nothing but an empty seat.

Ryuji frowned. "Where did she-"

As if on cue, both of the blondes' phones vibrated violently in their pockets. When they went to check them, they found a message from their friend.

 **Futaba:** _Yeah, let me know when mommy and daddy are done fighting. I had to get back to class anyways so…have fun with that you two._ _:3_

The two blondes, now finding themselves a few shades redder than they were before, groaned collectively. Ryuji leaned back in his chair, looking at the ceiling, while Ann closed her eyes and rested her head on her palm, crossing her legs to have a comfortable spot to place her elbow on. It wasn't Futaba that bothered them so much as the way that she had worded it.

"She really had to put it like that, didn't she?" The former track star broke the silence.

"I know, right?" Ann opened one eye to get a glance at the boy across from her, catching him now looking directly at her. Then a thought hit the girl and both her eyes went wide with a rather loud gasp.

"What?!" Ryuji exclaimed, worried for his friend.

"Do you suppose she found out about the time we talked about…y'know, stuff?" Ann tried to hint as subtly as possible.

"Huh?" Ryuji donned a questionable look on his face at first before realizing what she was talking about. Then his face followed hers: eyes wide as possible. "Oh…shit."

Ann shook her head viciously. "No no no, it doesn't matter anyways, does it?! We decided that we just wanted to stay friends!"

"I mean, yeah." Ryuji tugged on his shirt a bit. "But the fact that she may or may not have stuff to hold against us scares the shit outta me."

"Ugh, we should've been more careful talking about it." Ann stated bluntly.

The two let out another collective groan. They should've known the little geek still had the works set up around the coffee shop.

* * *

It was just a normal evening in LeBlanc, a month (give or take) after Akira had left. Ann had just finished up her iced coffee that Sojiro insisted was on the house, and Ryuji his curry that the same owner charged full price for. Sojiro, with it being the end of the night, was about to go out and lock up when he still spotted the two sitting there, talking their hearts out. The older gentleman had made his way over to their table and told them that he'd give them ten minutes to wrap things up before moseying on back over to the dishes at his own leisurely pace. The two blondes traded frowns before Ann decided to ask Ryuji a question that could have ultimately altered their friendship forever.

"So," she began, twirling her hair in her fingers nervously. "Have you ever thought about…us?"

Ryuji cocked an eyebrow. "Whaddya mean?"

"You _know_ what I mean, Ryuji."

Ryuji sighed and looked down at the floor. "Well I guess I shoulda seen this coming."

Ann leaned back in her booth. "This isn't really a confession. It's just…well, there's obviously something there between us. I just want to know if it's something that you think that we should pursue."

Ryuji raised his head up and looked her in the eyes. "Yeah, I guess we oughtta." The boy paused for a few seconds, thinking his next words over carefully. "I agree with ya Ann. I think there is something between us but, it's just-"

"You don't want to fuck anything up?" She finished for the boy with a smirk.

"I'm not gonna lie, I like the way things are between us now. I really don't wanna fuck up our friendship even if it means givin' up a hottie like you to someone else." Ryuji's eyes went wide as it just occurred to him what he said. "I mean, that is to say-"

"I get what you mean Ryuji, it's alright." Ann continued putting on her devilish smirk. "And honestly, while there is definitely _something_ there, I think I agree with you for once."

Ryuji nearly fell out of his seat. "I'm sorry, but can you say that again?"

"Don't be an ass."

"Sorry, couldn't resist." Ryuji scratched his nose while he put on a smile. After he resumed his normal sitting position, he started again. "So I guess this means that we're just stayin' the same way we were before, huh? Just friends?"

Ann looked down at the floor for a brief moment, pondering over the situation. Then she returned the smile as she looked back at her friend. "Yep! Guess so!"

Ryuji let out a sigh of relief before diving right back into the conversation. "Y'know this is gonna be kinda weird, right? Now that all this junk is out there in the open?"

Ann shrugged. "It needed to be said. I think it was a smart decision to talk about it before we did anything really stupid."

"Very adult of us." Ryuji added with a nod, Ann mirroring him in agreement with a slight giggle. "Gotta wonder how this'll affect us later on in our lives though."

Ann found her head resting off-center with a quizzical look on her face. "What do you mean?"

"Well, what if turns out that this was a huge missed opportunity for us? I don't believe in all that 'destined to be together' crap, but you gotta wonder if, like, we're letting go of something amazing by agreeing on this."

"Ryuji, you can't just change your mind after all that." Ann stated, slightly annoyed with her compatriot.

"I know…" Ryuji let his head sink again, looking at the same spot on the floor.

Ann breathed in and closed her eyes, trying to calm herself. This was a difficult situation that they found themselves in, so she didn't want to screw anything up. As she opened her eyes, she began to speak again. "Look, you can't hold onto this stuff forever Ryuji. Don't look as this as an opportunity that you missed rather than…" The girl paused, thinking over her words again. "Something that we both agreed wouldn't be a good idea. It's not that you didn't want to miss out on an opportunity, but that you wanted to preserve something good that you already had."

Ryuji returned to looking at the girl, now with an expression of awe. His eyebrows narrowed just a tad as he spoke again. "Where the _fuck_ did that come from Ann?"

"Hey, I can speak from the heart when it really matters! That was all me!" _Okay, maybe I was channeling my inner Akira a little bit._

"My ass…" Ryuji trailed off under his breath. "Anyways, I guess that makes sense. I just don't want to be making any more mistakes."

Ann sighed. "Ryuji, everyone makes mistakes. You're not going to be perfect the rest of your life."

"I should damn well try to be after how much I've screwed up." Ryuji growled. "Now, I want to make sure on this Ann: you aren't really going to regret this if we move on?"

The pig-tailed girl was unexpectedly hesitant at first before she made her final decision. "Of course I'm always going to be thinking about the 'what ifs' of my life. And even if I do regret it when we're older and it might be too late, I still believe that this is the right choice for us. We're too good as friends, Ryuji. You're the one who said that at the start of all this. And if there's one person whose gut I can trust, it's yours." Ann finished the statement with that devilish smirk she wore so well.

Ryuji closed his eyes, thinking over his blonde friend's words, before matching the smirk and chuckling to himself a little bit. "That was 'all you' too, huh? Never thought I'd be listening to you for a voice of reason."

"Between the two of us?" Ann questioned.

"Eh, fair, I guess." Ryuji shrugged, following up with a yawn.

"And Ryuji."

The boy furrowed his brows as he finished up his yawn. "What?"

"Don't try to be perfect. We both know it isn't your style." Ann beamed at him, to which Ryuji responded with a tongue sticking out at the girl.

Sojiro, now finished with the dishes, made his way back over to the group. "Alright you kids, c'mon. I'm getting pretty tired here."

The duo got out of their seats with a couple of smiles. Ryuji spoke up first, saying "Aight! Thanks for the grub boss!"

"Thanks for the coffee boss! It was so refreshing!"

Sojiro cracked a small smile. "Alright, enough with the brown-nosing. You kids need to go home anyways." He led them both towards the door, holding it while the two stroke up another argument to have on their way back to the train station. All the owner could do was roll his eyes and flip the sign to _closed._

* * *

 _Thank whatever gods there may be, freedom!_ Ryuji thought to himself as he stepped out of the school. The first day back had finally concluded and, much to Ryuji's delight, that meant he could do whatever he wanted for the rest of the evening. He could go to the arcade, go get some of his favorite ramen from Ogikubo, go to the gym…

 _What the hell,_ the boy resumed his thoughts, although more annoyed. _Why doesn't any of that even sound remotely…good?_ The slim boy kept thinking it over and over in his mind. Normally he would be more than happy being able to do this stuff after school. Hell, he used to do that stuff all the time back when Akira was-

And then it hit him. Ryuji just missed his best friend, plain and simple as that. Much to his chagrin, the boy realized that he wanted someone to spend time with; that these acts of freedom and pleasure just weren't the same unless he had someone by his side that he could share the experiences with.

"Well," Ryuji began talking to himself, pulling his phone out. "Here goes nothin', I guess." He unlocked the device with a swipe of his thumb, quickly pulling up his messaging app and pressing his thumb to the group chat that, as much as it pained him, excluded Akira.

 **Ryuji:** _So does anyone wanna hang out with me tonight? I ain't got any good plans so I'm free to do whatever._

The boy leaned up against a wall, waiting impatiently for the little dots at the bottom of his screen to turn into actual words. He stared at the screen for a good minute before he got a reply.

 **Yusuke:** _I'm afraid that I must decline. There is a colleague's exhibit that I was asked to attend and perhaps critique some of their work._

 **Ann:** _You know I had a job after school today._

 **Ryuji:** _You didn't have to respond. I already knew…_

 **Haru:** _I'm attending a meeting regarding a possible merger between Okumura Foods and a smaller organization._

 **Ann:** _Isn't that a buyout?_

 **Haru:** _Hush._

 **Ann:** _Yeesh. You ask_ _ **one**_ _question…_

 **Futaba:** _Busy._

 **Ryuji:** _Hacker stuff?_

 **Futaba:** _Snitches get stiches, Ryuji._

 **Yusuke:** _Why I would say that, if anything, stiches would just add to Ryuji's intimidating demeanor. It would make him look like a much harder individual that could pave the way to my next breakthrough!_

 **Futaba:** _Inari?_

 **Yusuke:** _Hm?_

 **Futaba:** _You're lucky you have your looks._

 **Ryuji:** _Hold up, so you're_ _ **all**_ _busy?!_

 **Ann:** _Well, Makoto hasn't texted back yet._

 **Ryuji:** _Like hell she'd want to hang out with me anyways._

 **Makoto:** _That's awfully presumptuous of you Ryuji._

 **Ryuji:** _Oh, hi Makoto._

 **Makoto:** _And, if you want me to spend time with you, I do indeed have the time._

Ryuji was taken aback by the last response. He quickly swiped through his contact to find Makoto's name and started up a new private conversation with her.

 **Ryuji:** _Wait, really?_

 **Makoto:** _Indeed. You just have to agree with me to do one thing._

 **Ryuji:** _Can't ever be simple with you, huh?_

 **Makoto:** _All I want to do is study for an hour at the diner in Shibuya that we all used to frequent. You remember, yes?_

 **Ryuji:** _Yeah, I remember it. Ugh, studying ain't really what I had in mind if I'm being honest with ya._

 **Makoto:** _It's just for an hour, Ryuji. I'm not even asking you to study things yourself. Just help me study my subjects and I'll be fine with that._

 **Ryuji:** _We talking stuff like flash cards, ask you questions…that kind of stuff?_

 **Makoto:** _Precisely._

Ryuji mulled over the proposition for a moment in his head. He had never really hung out with Makoto solo before, so the experience would be a bit new and different. And he would be damned if he was going to let anymore experiences get past him.

 **Ryuji:** _Sure thing Senpai. I'll help ya out._

 **Makoto:** _Oh please Ryuji, you never bothered to use honorifics before. Don't start now._

 **Ryuji:** _Right, sorry. So I'll see you at the diner, I guess?_

 **Makoto:** _I suppose you will. Whoever makes it there first will text the other that they've arrived, agreed?_

 **Ryuji:** _Alright, got it. I'll see ya there then!_

The blonde boy was about to put his phone back in his pocket when he felt another vibration come from it. He looked at his messages to find that Futaba and Yusuke had begun one of their typical bickering sessions in the group chat with Haru doing her best to act as a mediator.

 _Good luck with that,_ Ryuji thought with a smirk as he dropped his phone in his pocket.


	2. Reuniting

"Um, yeah, just a spot for two." Ryuji held up two fingers as he talked to the waitress that would soon lead him to his seat. She shot him back a look of confusion which made the boy remember he was still by himself. "Oh yeah, the other one should be here shortly." He added.

"Alright, do you prefer a table or booth?" The woman sported a fake smile as she said the line she was trained to say for what felt like the millionth time today.

"Booth if available, please." Ryuji tried to say as courteously as possible. Memories of Akira telling him about how awful his days working at the likes of that beef bowl flooded his mind with a wave of nostalgia. He knew what kind of hell a job like food service was thanks to his friend, so he tried not to press too hard.

"Alright, follow me if you would please." The waitress led the blonde through the restaurant, working their way through the slightly crowded building. The clientele ranged from surly businessmen and women who were looking to finish up a long day with a relaxing dinner to other high-schoolers who had rushed here as soon as they possibly could, it seemed. Some were engaged in deep conversations that provided them comfort knowing that they had someone to talk to; others had chosen to be lone wolves, using the time spent at this diner for things such as studying, reading, or just a brief respite from their usual busy lives. Whatever the case may've been, the one universal constant in this restaurant is that people were using it as a way to ease any tension that might have built up. Even the everyday workforce of Japan that made their way into the establishment found themselves to be lightening up, even if it only a little bit.

As Ryuji took his seat in the booth and answered the waitress with "water," all he could think about was hoping this place would have the same effect on him.

Ryuji began to rummage through his bag, looking for something to occupy his time until Makoto arrived. _Could catch up on that manga before the next issue comes out,_ he thought to himself as his fingers went over several different books that varied from manga to textbooks. As he touched past the textbooks, though, he felt a surge of guilt wash over him.

The blonde boy let out a sigh. "Goddammit." He muttered under his breath as he aggressively pulled an algebra textbook out of his bag and put it on the table. He followed it up by breaking out a notepad, opening up to a blank page that didn't have any doodles on it, and a mechanical pencil.

The minutes passed and, with one problem completed when Ryuji decided to go to the back of the book to look at the answers, the young man was growing tired. _I knew her college was a bit far off, but yeesh. Didn't think I'd be waiting this long._ He closed his eyes with his arms to the side, leaning back in his seat. Then another thought crossed his mind. _Don't suppose she's gonna no-show on me, huh? I mean, it's been what? Three months since I last saw her? Relax man, Makoto wouldn't do that._ The boy smirked to himself. He then decided that getting out a calculator just might help with his problems.

"Forgetful as ever, Sakamoto?" A feminine voice sent chills down his spine, his back turned to the source as he was still digging through his bag for his calculator. Ryuji then heard the voice chuckle. "You only had one job to do when you got here, after all."

His head snapped around with Makoto in front of him. It was odd seeing the girl after a school day yet not in the Shujin uniform. Instead she wore her standard white dress blouse, a black belt, and a pair of black leggings with her feet slipped into a pair of black flats. The only thing about her that had changed since the last time that Ryuji saw her, from what he could tell, is that she decided to grow her hair out a little bit as it was up in a ponytail.

"Oh, uh…hi, Makoto. Haven't seen ya in a while." Ryuji gulped, just remembering that he was supposed to text the girl. "Uh, I like the hair."

"Thank you." Makoto took her seat opposite of the surprisingly studious boy. "Although I'll admit that when I thought I would see you next," The woman paused, surveying the textbook and papers out in front of the trouble-maker, "it wouldn't be with a math book of all things in front of you. Turning a new leaf _after_ I left Shujin?" She ended with a coy smile.

Ryuji felt like a deer in headlights. He didn't know how the hell Makoto was able to balance out not seeing each other in over three months but still acting like they had just met up yesterday, but she seemed to do it with ease. A confidence was evident in the woman's aura. It was something that told him she could strike up a conversation with any familiar face without so much as tripping over a thing word.

"Sakamoto-kun?" Makoto snapped her fingers in front of Ryuji's face. Unbeknownst to the boy, he had gone off into a trance. "Are you feeling alright?"

"Sorry, mind wandered a little." Ryuji shuffled in his seat sheepishly. "Was just kinda amazed how you're still able to talk to me like it's nothin'. Guess those student council president skills are still there, huh?"

"We _are_ friends, Sakamoto-kun. It isn't anything special." Makoto stated, turning to the waitress returning to the table and matching her friend's order for some water to start her off.

 _Whatever ya say, Makoto._ "Why ya bein' so formal with me? If we're such good friends and all?" Ryuji beamed his pearly white teeth.

"Old habits are hard to break."

"Tell me about it." Ryuji slouched forward and rested his head on his hand, using the other to drum on his textbook.

And then the talking ceased. Makoto started to go through her bag looking for her own books and materials. _Ugh, what the hell man._ Ryuji thought to himself. _C'mon, say something to her dammit._

"So," he started, "what ya been up to huh?"

Makoto began to flip through her textbook, looking for the correct page to start on. She turned her head back up to Ryuji, holding onto a page mid-flip. "Hm? I haven't really been doing much. I met up with Ann and the others a few times over the summer—separate occasions, of course—but other than that, nothing of note." The woman turned back down to her book and began flipping through the pages again. "How about you? Have you been keeping out of trouble recently?"

"Eh, yeah, I guess." Ryuji responded, a bit unenthusiastically.

"You…guess?" Makoto raised her eyebrows.

Ryuji waved a hand. "Don't worry, I ain't been doing anything bad. I've actually, believe or not, been keepin' out of trouble."

"That's surprising."

"C'mon, give me some credit. I've definitely improved since you joined in our, uh, 'extracurricular activities' all that time ago." The boy smiled, insanely proud of catching himself before he said anything stupid.

Makoto nodded. "You definitely have. Although I see you've opted to keep your blonde hair from your rebellious streak."

Ryuji tussled his hair, still wearing his smile. "At this point I feel like going back would be kinda screwy."

"What do you mean?"

"I think it's iconic of me. Like, this hair is what makes me _me_ , y'know?"

Makoto was about to reply when the waitress came back with Makoto's water. She then took the duo's order—an order of fries for the two to share. The baggy-eyed woman then went on to her next table to check up on other customers.

"Not very hungry, huh?" Ryuji asked the girl.

"I also want to leave room for ramen in case you want to go to Ogikubo." Makoto tacked on.

"Oh yeah. Forgot that might be a thing." Ryuji confessed.

"Hm? You haven't planned anything after we finished studying?" Makoto asked. Ryuji was about to respond and then Makoto shook her head. "Wait, sorry."

Ryuji looked confused. "What are ya sorry for?"

Makoto curled up the corner of her lips. "I forgot that planning wasn't in your repertoire."

Ryuji shrugged. "What fun would I be if I started thinkin' shhhhhhtuff through now?" _Old habits_ _ **do**_ _die hard._ Ryuji shook his head at trying to catch himself from cursing in front of his former student council president.

Makoto let out a tiny and, to Ryuji, out-of-character giggle. "You do understand you don't have to watch your language around me, right?"

"Yeah, I get it." Ryuji responded a tad annoyed. "What can I say? Force of habit."

"Don't get me wrong Ryuji; I'm flattered that you would consider me worth changing your habits over. However it isn't necessary. We're just friends hanging out in a casual environment." Makoto took a sip of her water.

Ryuji felt himself heat up, if only a little bit. "That wasn't flattery! It was just something I kept back when you were in school with us `cause you put the fear of god in whoever crossed ya!" Makoto looked in surprise with a bit of pink rising to her face. Ryuji instantly recognized this and immediately recoiled a bit, his face also acquiring a rosy tint. "Sorry, didn't mean anything by what I said."

"You're fine- IT'S fine, I meant." Makoto corrected herself in a very uncharacteristic manner. She put her face in her hands. "Ugh, I'm sorry."

Ryuji couldn't help but let a hearty laugh escape his lungs as he started up again. "It's alright Makoto. Flattery ain't exactly flirting, really. If anything I should be apologizin' for makin' ya think that in the first place." Makoto, albeit slowly, lowered her hands from her face and gave Ryuji a small smile. "See? There we go."

"You certainly do have an odd way of comforting a girl."

"I was tryin' not to make it weird. After all, look at us: just a boy and a girl hanging out together in a diner," Ryuji paused for the oncoming waitress who put the fries down in-between the two and then quickly made her way back to the restaurant's counter. "Sharing a plate of hot fries." He then eagerly grabbed a fry and popped it in his mouth, being caught off-guard by how hot it actually was and slowly fanning at it with his hands between chews.

Makoto furrowed her brows. "Akira and I used to come here all the time though and we were just friends." She carefully grabbed some fries on her own, blowing on them before consuming them so as to not suffer what her friend just did.

"Yeah, to you guys you were just friends. But what about to everyone else?"

"What do you mean?"

Ryuji leaned forward. "What I'm saying is that most people thought that you two were dating. And, `cause of that, they're probably gonna be thinkin' the same with us."

To Ryuji's surprise, Makoto just cocked and eyebrow and replied, "So?"

"Whaddya mean 'so?'"

"Who cares what the people around us think of us. We know what we know and that's what matters." Makoto quipped.

Ryuji, not expecting this line of thinking from the diligent former student council president, shot her a look of shock. "I thought you cared about public appearance."

"I do, but not near as much as I used to. I still do what is expected of me and do my best to maintain an air of diligence when around colleagues and teachers, but outside of that there isn't a lot for me to worry about." Makoto smirked, knowing full well that she had blindsided the former track star. "Besides," she continued, "what do you find so terrible about us being seen together?"

Ryuji was still recovering from what had just happened before, but still managed to stammer out an answer. "I, uh, I dunno, it's just…" He trailed off.

"Just what? You don't want to be seen with an 'older woman?'" Makoto teased.

 _Goddammit, the hell's with her? Three months and it feels like she's definitely gotten stupidly confident with this teasin' shit._ Ryuji cleared his throat before giving the girl an answer. "Look, it ain't `cause of you, alright? I'm just worried about, well…"

"Well what, Ryuji?" Makoto asked, a slight irk of irritation able to be heard in her voice.

"What if someone you know or someone we both know spots us? I don't exactly have the best reputation around here, in case ya haven't noticed."

Makoto didn't hesitate with her response, letting a twinge of annoyance resonate in her voice. "Ryuji, you need to stop wearing that chip on your shoulder. You're not a bad guy. You just happened to get caught up in something terrible that wasn't your fault. You're one of the best guys, if not one of the best people, I know. You have a great work ethic and you're very kindhearted. You have flaws, yes, but nobody on this planet is perfect. We should know that better than anyone." Makoto smiled as she finished up her statement on why Ryuji was wrong. "I think I can say pretty _damn_ confidently that I would never be embarrassed to be caught with you."

Ryuji just sat there, flabbergasted by the girl. _What the actual hell?_ He never really expected something so heartfelt out of a woman who was normally so calm and calculated. Everything that she said just got to him to his very core, slowly chipping away at whatever exoskeleton of stubbornness that his body had built until it came crashing down. _And what was that last bit about? 'I would never be embarrassed to be caught with you.' That felt_ _ **so**_ _fuckin' weird to hear from Makoto._ He sighed, rubbing his temples so as to not think about it too hard. _She's changed a lot buddy. And here you are, still same old Ryuji. Pathetic._

"Hey, Ryuji?" Makoto again regained the boy's attention, this time opting for a simple wave in front of his face instead of a snap. "Are you _sure_ you're okay?"

"Huh?" The boy returned from his daze, wondering how long he had been like that. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just…" He paused and shot Makoto a smile. "Thanks Makoto. I really appreciate that."

The brown-haired girl didn't really expect to see a smile erupt so quickly from him with just that one small speech. She felt the pink resurge to her cheeks slightly, turning her head away to try and not show her face to the boy. In doing so, she spotted a clock, noticing that forty-five minutes had passed since she arrived here. Makoto quickly turned back to her friend to declare a response. "Not a problem. Now that we've talked for a while, can we please study for at least fifteen minutes? I've already used up a good portion of the time I asked you for with our talking."

Ryuji, without hesitation, gave the girl another smile and his reply. "Let's just go on and stay another hour. I don't care."

"Wait, what?!" She found herself raising her voice slightly from the genuine shock. "Are you _sure_ that you don't have a fever or something Ryuji?"

The blonde shot her a look of disappointment and stuck his tongue out. "Har har. I'm doing this for you ya dummy, so yes, I'll stay another hour and help ya study. And then we'll see what kinda time we got left after that for other stuff we can do."

Makoto's look of pure surprise gradually turned into one of happiness, a smile radiating from her person. "Thank you, Ryuji." She then went through her bag searching for her flash cards. As soon as she found them, she handed them to the caring young man before her.

Time passed by the duo without any thought in the world. Seconds turned into minutes in the blink of an eye. Studying was a bit of a bore for Ryuji, but he did his best to keep pace with Makoto. They blazed through the girl's flash cards like nothing, showcasing the knowledge that she was known to have. To change it up a bit, he grabbed Makoto's notebook and started flipping through it, asking questions based on the notes that she had taken. After half an hour of her studying, she took the notebook back from Ryuji and began to help him study his own subjects, careful to take her time going over each problem at the boy's own pace. She couldn't help but admire that he was at least trying to improve, even if it was just a little bit—and even if it was just because she was the one that wanted to study in the first place.

Ryuji finished up his last problem. "Thanks Makoto!"

"That's my line." The brunette stated. "I appreciate you taking time out of your day to help me."

"No problem! I actually found out I like hangin' out with ya!"

"You didn't enjoy spending time with me before?" Makoto smiled.

Ryuji returned the expression. "Well I never really hung out with ya before, now did I? The only time we ever did somethin' one-on-one was back with Kaneshiro when we had to do callin' card stuff, remember?" The blond boy started gathering up his things and putting them in his bag.

Makoto nodded, matching his movements with her own possessions. "That is correct, I suppose. Still, I'm happy that we finally got to do so."

"Me too!"

"And I guess I now have to hold up my end of the bargain." Makoto leaned back and folded her arms. "So, what did you have in mind that we'd be doing?"

Ryuji wanted to tell her that she didn't have to do anything else if she didn't want to and that he had enough fun with her here if she just wanted to end the evening there. He truly did, but every once in a while, he wanted to be selfish, even for just a moment. "Well, there's always the ramen joint up in Ogikubo if ya aren't too full. Then there's the arcade, the…uh…" Ryuji stammered a bit, before an idea hit him. "Y'know what?" He stood up, much to Makoto's surprise. As he stretched out, he said "How `bout we just make it up as we go along, huh? Sound good?" Ryuji then got out his wallet and threw enough money to cover the tab and the waitress's tip.

Makoto could only just put a grin on her face, grabbing her bag as she stood up. "I would expect no less from you, Ryuji."

Ryuji smirked, happy that the girl was so willing to play along with his plans, or lack-there-of. The duo made their way through the now crowded restaurant, both thinking to themselves how lucky they were to get there when they did. A new waitress at the front of the store wished them a nice evening, a gesture that they both returned as they made their way out onto the bustling streets of Shibuya.


	3. Spark

When they had left the restaurant and mingled their way into the flow of the masses, the duo kept a close on each other so as to not lose track (although Makoto thought it would be hard to _not_ spot a guy like Ryuji in a crowd). Still, it didn't keep them from speaking to each other about silly moments that they shared in the past with the group. Yusuke and Futaba's constant bickering, the arguments that Morgana and Ryuji would instigate with each other and more would fill up their conversations for a while until Makoto, even though she was enjoying the time talking to Ryuji immensely, had come to a sudden realization. One that bothered her ever so slightly: she still had no idea where they were going.

And frankly, she wasn't sure if Ryuji did either.

"So even for as unprepared as I expect you to be, have you figured out where you want to go?" Makoto asked, her hands holding each other behind her back as she walked along her unexpectedly nervous acquaintance.

Ryuji felt a bead of sweat form, realizing that he was also way too caught up in their talk to even think about where to go. "Um…"

Makoto let out a sly giggle. "Did you just intend on walking around talking to me for the rest of the evening?"

He smiled back at her. "Not like it'd be a bad way to spend the night."

Makoto felt her cheeks redden slightly, mentally giving the boy a point on the scoreboard for how well he handled the response. "Well, if you want to do that I'm ok with it. This is for you, after all."

Ryuji's smirk kept true. "Nah, we need to find something. I don't wanna bore you with stuff about me anyways."

"I highly doubt that you have anything boring about you, Ryuji."

"I'm a teenager who plays video games and reads manga. Sounds pretty boring if you ask me."

Makoto looked up to him, slightly annoyed with how he responded that time. "First off, you're also into running, aren't you? And it isn't just necessarily your hobbies or what you do in your spare time that makes someone who they are, I hope you know."

Ryuji rolled his eyes. "Yeesh, what's with ya girls and all this motivational poster talk now? Some of this stuff feels like crap I'd read on some forums."

She narrowed her eyebrows. "Ryuji, you _know_ what I mean. You're not a boring person just because of your hobbies.

"Yeah yeah, I know. I just like givin' ya a hard time Makoto. And it isn't like I find myself boring, it's just that I don't think you'd find me as interesting as you'd like." Ryuji gave her a solemn look.

Makoto sighed. "Ryuji, if I didn't think you were interesting I wouldn't be here trying to talk to you right now."

The boy paused for a moment, and then started chuckling and scratched the back of his head. "Hey yeah, I never thought of it like that."

She shook her head. "You seriously need to get that chip off your shoulder. You're always such a happy and caring guy but you think the world's out to get you or something."

Ryuji stopped in his tracks, Makoto matching him, in front of the train station steps. His look had turned from happiness to a slight twinge of anger, his scowl returning in full-form. "Can ya really blame me for thinking that Makoto? So what if I carry a bit more weight than others? Look at where being that 'happy and caring' guy has gotten me." He pointed at his leg. "I can't run like I used to `cause I tried being 'happy and caring' all the time. My leg got fucked up for me mistaking what the world really wanted outta me. I'm not makin' another mistake like that."

Makoto looked down at his leg and then to the ground, not wanting to meet the anger in his eyes. She didn't do this out of fear, but out of respect for the boy, knowing now why he acted like he carried extra baggage. And even though she wasn't scared of him, she found herself fearing something else; not a person or an item, but another realization.

The realization that there was even more that Ryuji wasn't telling her.

"I see. I'm very sorry Ryuji, I didn't mean to upset you." Makoto finally let out after thinking over her words for a few moments.

Ryuji shuffled his feet and stuck his hands in his pockets, letting out a deep sigh. "Goddammit, I'm sorry Makoto. I don't mean to let that shit outta me, but sometimes-"

"No, it isn't your fault Ryuji." She quickly interrupted him with a stern response, her scarlet eyes meeting his and gazing into his soul.

He closed his eyes and looked towards the ground. "Look, I get if ya don't wanna hang out with me. My temper ain't an excuse for that."

"Did I say I didn't want to hang out with you anymore?" Makoto questioned, although making it sound more like a statement.

"You don't have to say somethin' for it to be heard, Makoto."

Makoto raised her eyebrows, a little surprised by the boy's hint of profoundness. She then let out a sigh of her own, tired now of his depressed attitude. "Ryuji, stop trying to make me go. I'm staying here with you out of choice. You know very well that I would leave of my own volition if I wanted to. So my suggestion?" She leaned in and whispered in his ear. "You better get _fucking_ used to me, because I'm not letting you sink your own ship that easily."

As Makoto backed away, the only expression that Ryuji could put to his face was one of shock. He pinched himself on the thigh, making sure that had hadn't just been dreaming this entire time. _Ow! Ok, no, that hurt like hell. So if it was just happened was real, then Makoto, my stud- er,_ _ **former**_ _student council president, just said…_

"What the fuck?" Was all Ryuji could muster up in response. He frantically shook his head. "You can't say that!"

Makoto folded her arms. "Why is that?"

"`Cause...`cause…you're," Ryuji rubbed his eyes. "You're Makoto! You're not supposed to curse like that!"

Makoto blinked. "I'm sorry if I ruined this image you had of me?"

"No, it isn't that, but…" Ryuji trailed off, putting his hand on her shoulder and slumping his own in a loss for words. Finally, after a few moments had passed, he spoke again. "I'm not sure. I guess I just wasn't really expecting it." Then he shot her his familiar smile again.

Makoto let out a small laugh despite her best effort to hold it in. "Sorry, I didn't mean to laugh. It's just, um…" She felt her cheeks redden slightly for what felt like the twentieth time that day. "It was kind of cute to see you get all worked up like that."

Ryuji was impressed with how his body was able to not let his cheeks get all rosy, although he felt the rest of his body heat up despite the cool autumn air. He scratched the back of his neck uncomfortably. "Uh, thanks, I guess."

They both stood in place, unsure of what to do next. Ryuji just wanted time to stop for a moment to think the events through. He had finally let a huge part of what was on his mind out into the open, although not in the healthiest manner. _Ugh, dammit. That was real shitty of me._ _I'm happy about gettin' that stuff out, but I really wish she didn't see me like that._ His mind then wandered a bit, leading him to thinking about Makoto's follow-up. _And did she just call me…cute? Me? What the hell?_ Ryuji looked down to the train station steps, figuring out his next move. _Ah, fuck. Don't think about it man._ _Probably just harmless flirting anyways._

"Well how 'bout we just put that talk behind us, huh? Get goin' to Ogikubo for some of that ramen?" Ryuji suggested to the girl who was obviously just as flustered about this whole ordeal.

"So you finally made up your mind, hm?" Makoto mused, although Ryuji thought he heard some disappointment behind her voice.

 _Just my imagination._ "Yeah. I figure it'd be a good idea to try and forget that that talk just happened. I don't wanna fuck up the rest of the night for either of us." Ryuji confessed.

"Yes, for now." Makoto agreed. "I still don't believe that you should be putting yourself down all the time Ryuji, but I'll only talk about this whenever you want to talk about it. I'm not going to pretend that I know what you've gone through, but I'm here to listen as your friend."

Ryuji smiled once again. "Thanks Makoto." He then turned and started down the steps down to the platform. "Now c'mon, we should go before the shop gets too busy."

Makoto followed the man with a smile of her own. "Yes, let's."

* * *

They arrived later than anticipated at the ramen shop, getting caught up in talking like before. The two didn't seem to care all too much about their wait; truthfully, neither was all too hungry, but they were enjoying their time together, so this just meant more time for the two of them. By the time that they had reached the front of the line, it was already nine o'clock, a full thirty minutes after they had first gotten in line. And by the time they reached their seats, their stomachs were thankfully a bit emptier than before. Ryuji ordered his standard ramen bowl, Makoto deciding to match his order. Ryuji worked through his first bowl quickly, asking for second helping not but five minutes later. Makoto just smiled at how happy the boy seemed as she took her time with her own first bowl.

"So Makoto," Ryuji began through bites of his ramen. "What happened to wantin' to be a police officer?"

"Oh." The girl was caught a bit off-guard by the boy's sudden question. "I don't know. I just didn't feel confident about it. And everyone kind of expected me to go on to college for a good career."

"Ah." Ryuji acknowledged. "I get ya. I still think you would've made a hell of a cop."

"Well, thank you Ryuji."

"No problem. As long as you're doing whatever it is you wanna do, I think you're doin' alright." A smile formed on the boy's face.

Makoto couldn't help but smile back at the boy. His happiness was infectious. Ryuji was just a guy, at least to Makoto, that even if he couldn't make others around him happy, he damn well would at least try his hardest. The flip side of that coin is that when he's depressed, the people around him aren't exactly the happiest either. He had a drive that Makoto couldn't help but be happy about.

The last thought reminded her of something. "So Ann has told me that you recently made the decision to learn how to drive, correct?"

Ryuji swallowed the mouthful of noodles he was working on. "Yeah, I figured that I should learn it at some point, even if I end up livin' in Tokyo all my damn life."

"Well, it is a useful skill to have." Makoto, the only member of the former Phantom Thieves with a driver's license, agreed.

"It never even crossed my mind until you joined our rag-tag bunch of misfits and we found out that Morgana could pull a Transformer on us."

"A what?"

"A Transformer. Y'know, those robot things that can turn into cars, planes and shit?" Ryuji did his best to describe what he was talking about, but all he got was a blank stare from Makoto. "Yeesh, I knew that you were all-study-no-play, but that's a bit far off."

Makoto frowned. "What can I say? Studies came first and, if I'm honest, I didn't have much in the way of friends before you guys. I had a shell that I was comfortable in and being a part of the group helped me break out of it."

Ryuji sighed. "Yeah, I get it. Hell I basically lost most of my friends before Akira came around. He became a friend that I could rely on and just be myself. Not to mention all the shit he helped me with." Ryuji shook his head with a smirk. "I have a lot to owe to that guy but I'm not even sure where to start with paying it back."

Makoto was unsure of what to say back, but she did the best improvising she could manage. "I'm sure he feels like you don't owe him anything. Akira's just a naturally helpful person and you shouldn't feel bad about his decisions to help you."

"I don't feel bad about it. It's just a matter of pride, y'know? It doesn't sit right with me if I don't do something to make it all up to him."

Makoto smiled. "Ryuji, I hope that you don't change too much when you mature some more. You've got too big a heart."

The boy returned the smile. "Thanks. And thanks again for choosin' to hang out with me. I really like spendin' time with ya."

Makoto felt the back of her neck burn, but she kept her smile. "Anytime, Ryuji."

The duo continued talking, switching the topic to school, as they made the way through the rest of their dinner.

* * *

Ryuji found himself getting off at the same stop as Makoto. Despite her going to college, she opted to just live at home with her sister, something that Sae never seemed to mind, according to Makoto. Still, the girl did find it odd to see Ryuji choosing to get off here with her.

When she shot him an oddball look, he instantly held up his hands in defense. "I'm just walkin' ya home. Friend, girlfriend, whatever the hell you may be, if mom ever found out that I didn't walk a girl home after an evening together she'd kick my shit in." The two exited the station into the night.

Makoto giggled, walking alongside the taller boy in the cool evening air. "You don't have to, you know. And it isn't like your mom would ever find out."

"If there are words for people to speak, my mom _will_ find out about somethin' eventually. I love her to death but damn she likes to gossip 'bout shit."

"She's a hard worker from what you've told me about her though."

Ryuji nodded. "She's done nothin' but give and give back to me ever since my dad left when I was a little asshole. That's why I'm tryin' to clean up a little bit and actually find something solid for the future. I wanna find someplace where my mom can just rest, y'know? I don't want her to stress about shit that ain't her fault anymore."

Makoto smiled, noticing the irony behind Ryuji's line of thinking. Still, she just ignored it for now, not wanting to end the night on a downright terrible note. "Well that's very thoughtful of you Ryuji. I'm sure your mother would be very appreciative of it."

"I don't know if it'd be enough, but it's a start." Ryuji scratched at his neck. "Anyways, enough about my depressin' crap, what about you? I never actually learned what your plans are now."

Makoto looked up at Ryuji. "Honestly? I'm not entirely sure. For now I'm just doing standard things for law school. If I'm not going to be a police officer, then I want something to do with the law. So I figured why not just follow in my sister's footsteps?"

Ryuji smiled. "It's a start, that's for sure."

"Nothing's set in stone though. I have time to figure out what I'd like to do, so I don't feel like I'm in any rush." Makoto finished, making a sudden stop at a very modern apartment building. "Well, this is me."

"Damn, that was quick." Ryuji said. "Thanks again for hangin' out with me. It was fun."

"You're welcome. I had a lot of fun too."

Ryuji let out a sigh of relief, quickly following that up with another question. "So, would you wanna hang out again sometime? It doesn't have to be soon, but damn I had a lot of fun tonight and I'd hate for it to be a one-and-done thing."

Makoto, although admittedly caught off-guard at first, then smiled back at him and nodded. "Sure. I'm not doing anything this Friday. Is that alright for you?"

"I'm always free, you should know that." Ryuji chuckled to himself a little bit, trying his best not to seem pretentious for laughing at his own statement. "Alright, I'll text ya later sometime then?"

"I'm looking forward to it."

Ryuji turned his back and started walking off, both of the teens yelling out their goodbyes to the other as they parted to go their separate paths until the coming Friday. Ryuji could hear a door close behind him after a few seconds of him walking away had passed, giving him an opportunity to let out a deep sigh and reflect on how the night went and how he could expect their next get-together to go.

* * *

 **Author's Notes: So I've been pretty quiet insofar with how I've handled the story and I suppose now would probably be a good time to actually tell anyone who reads this what's what with the story.**

 **Firstly, I'm probably going to be updating this a little less frequently. School is a bitch and the only reason I've been able to churn out chapters as frequently as I've been able to is because A) they've been getting shorter and shorter and B) it's only the beginning of the semester, so work hasn't really piled on just yet.**

 **Secondly, I haven't determined the length of this story and, to be frank, I'm not entirely sure when it'll end. Could be 5 chapters from now, could be 20 chapters from now, who knows? I kind of just ride the wind to where it takes me when I write and while others may see it as a general flaw (which I will consent that it is to some extent), I try my best to use it to my advantage when there's just a spur of the moment in the creative process.**

 **Lastly, I'm not going to be able to focus solely just on this story (another bad habit of mine). I got other things I want to do both in and outside of writing, so while this will be the one I'll try to be the primary use of any of my attention, there will be one-shots-not necessarily just from the Persona series-that will also come out every now and then.**

 **Thanks to anyone who took the time to read this and for anyone who has at least tried to read this story so far. I appreciate the support!**

 **-CommanderGalen/Teach (wherever you're viewing this)**


	4. Keep it to Yourself

Days turned into weeks and soon weeks had turned into a month for Ryuji Sakamoto. He and Makoto had been spending most of their free time together, sometimes with others and sometimes by themselves. They had become good friends, arguably better than when they were a part of the Phantom Thieves. Why that was, neither of the two were really sure. Perhaps the tension and the situation that they had found themselves in at the time put up a barrier between the two, or maybe it was just because they hadn't ever really thought to give each other a chance. Ryuji always had remarked about how Makoto was the prissy student council president and how she always had to act prim and proper. On the other hand, Makoto was always tired of Ryuji's hijinks, citing his past activities as a delinquent and how he was always so aggressive towards people. Either way, the two had never seemed to mesh well together.

 _So why_ , Ryuji thought to himself, _are we gettin' along so damn well now?_

The boy found himself seated in a booth in LeBlanc after school on a Wednesday, waiting for Ann and Futaba to get back from some shopping, enjoying a cup of iced tea that Sojiro had recently added to the menu. Ryuji knew it wasn't for him, but he'd like to think that the reason the owner had decided to add it was because he knew that Ryuji didn't drink coffee. It wasn't sweet by any means, which Ryuji was fine with.

Finding his mind wandering back and forth between the tea and Makoto, he chose to get his mind off of both the drink and the girl. So he went through his backpack and pulled out his math textbook and his notebook, opening both up to the respective pages where he and Makoto had left off before, and set to work.

Ryuji had only been ten minutes in, taking intermittent sips of his tea, before Sojiro came over with more tea in a pitcher with a surprised look on his face. Ryuji hadn't noticed it, but he had already drained his glass to nothing but ice.

"You're studying?" Sojiro wasn't even trying to hide the surprise in his voice. "And you don't even have a gun to your head." He refilled the blonde-haired boy's drink.

"Funny, Boss." Ryuji rolled his eyes. "I've been tryin' to turn over a new leaf. New me, all that shit."

"Uh-huh. Who's the girl?" Sojiro asked with a smirk.

Ryuji looked up to him with a confused expression. "Wait, what?"

"I've been around the block a few times kid. People don't just change for any good reason. I think you and your entourage could understand that."

Ryuji scratched his head. "Yeah, I get ya. But there isn't any girl Boss."

"Well there has to be something that changed. But I'm not going to be sticking my nose in your business if you don't want to tell me."

"It's more along the lines that _I_ don't even know what the hell's up with me. I've just felt a lot more motivated to get shit done. I mean, Makoto's been helping me study a lot as of late, but that's `bout it."

Sojiro chuckled at the boy. "So it _is_ a girl, huh? And one of the Nijimas too. You sure do aim high kid."

Ryuji felt the back of his neck warm up. "It ain't like that! Makoto and I are just friends, that's it!"

Sojiro let out a huff of air from his nostrils. "Whatever you say, kid. If you need another refill, just ask." As he turned around to go back behind the counter, the door opened, chiming a bell that both of the only two people in the café turned their heads towards. Upon this, they found Futaba and Ann at the entrance. "Ah, there you two are. The boy's been waiting on you."

Looking at Ryuji, Futaba threw her arm up in front of Ann and stopped in place, making her blonde counterpart do the same. "Hold up a sec." The redhead stated bluntly. "Something's not right."

Ann looked at her worryingly. "What's wrong?"

"Ann, Ryuji has his textbook out. And…and _notes!_ " Futaba shook her head. "I knew it! The idiot went and got himself abducted by aliens, didn't he?!"

Ryuji held his head in his hand and shook it. The girl was a damn good actor despite her being a shut-in all that time. "Yeah yeah, you're all so funny. 'Ryuji's an idiot so he can't be studying.' I get it."

Futaba put her arm down and donned a smug smile as she made her way over to the table, Ann following her steps as they took their seats. "Well, did you expect anything else?"

Ann nodded her head. "It is odd to see you doing this. Normally we'd come here and you'd just be screwing around on your phone or something."

"Sorry to disappoint." Ryuji replied with an annoyed tone.

Ann furrowed her brows. "What the hell's your deal?"

"Just a lot goin' on, alright? Can we just drop this? Please?" He pleaded. "I'm sorry, I'm not tryin' to act like a dick but…ugh, there's just some stuff I need to sort out, alright?"

Futaba cocked a brow. "I just have one question."

"What is it?"

"You aren't doing any shady mafia shit, are you?" The girl asked Ryuji, her use of language prompting a slight glare from Sojiro.

"Of course not!"

Futaba put a smile back on her face. "Ok! I'm good then!"

"W-Wait!" Ann said in astonishment at her much shorter friend's acceptance. "You can't just let it go that easily!"

"Why not? He's a big kid, Ann. Besides, Ryuji's the type of guy to go spilling the beans whenever he gets the chance so we both know that whatever he's hiding is something that he definitely wants to keep to himself."

Ryuji raised his hand. "Um, I'm right here ya kn-"

"But what kind of friends are we if we just let him sulk in his problems all the time?" Ann questioned, completely ignoring the other blonde sitting across from the two women. "We need to be there for him, don't we?

"Seriously though, I'm right here. Don't I have a say in this?" Ryuji asked with a feeling of defeat, veering his gaze over to Sojiro for guidance that the old man didn't seem to possess.

"Well look at it this way," Futaba continued, also opting to ignore Ryuji. "As long he isn't doing anything illegal, that's good in my book. The way I see it, he'll tell us eventually if he really wants to."

Ann closed her eyes and sighed. "Yeah, I suppose you're right."

"I'm so happy to be part of this little talk of ours. Great communication by everyone here, may I just say." Ryuji was laying back in his side of the booth, announcing this with his left arm perched on the ledge and face pointed up towards the ceiling as if he would have more success getting a response out of the plaster above them than out of his friends, a gesture that received a glare from Ann.

"Alright Ryuji, we get it." Ann conceded. She then began to forage through her bag, looking for her own textbook, also catching sight of Futaba adjusting the sleeves on her Shujin jacket that she was still getting used to, rolling the sleeve back a tad at the wrist, obviously showing a very stern and annoyed expression on her face, something that Ann only saw when the Medjed menace was dealing with some very high difficulty tech issues. The blonde girl couldn't help but be amused and laugh at her technophilic friend.

To this, Futaba looked over with the same look of disgust she was just giving the jacket sleeves. "What? Damn school can't even make a jacket my size." She made sure to say that a little less loudly so she wouldn't receive the same fatherly stare from Sojiro that she had before.

Ryuji roared out a guffaw of his own before going back to his book, doing his best to retain some sense of professionalism. "So, you two gonna crack open those books or are we just watchin' some Futaba TV tonight?"

Ann, still giggling somewhat, placed her same math textbook on the table across from Ryuji's. "I don't know, this _is_ pretty funny. It's kind of like watching one of those adorable little cat videos. You know, except it's an awkward little geek instead."

Futaba hissed at her in response before quickly turning her attention back to the sleeves, still attempting her best to get them to stay in place on her wrists.

Ryuji sighed. "Futaba-"

"Ryuji! There are more pressing matters than studying at hand at the moment!" Futaba insisted, causing Ryuji to roll his eyes.

"Whatever ya say." He began to pick up his pencil when suddenly there was a squeal of excitement that caused him to look up at Futaba, only to find a look of pure disgust and hatred on her face.

"Taking a shot in the dark here, but I'm guessin' you had it for a sec?" Ryuji questioned the girl. "And then ya lost it, huh?"

"I just don't understand. They're _sleeves._ How can someone make them so hard to roll back and keep in place?!" The spectacled girl was practically yelling at the piece of apparel.

"I've honestly never seen someone suffer this much from clothes my entire life. And I think that holds some weight, my work and all considered." Ann stated bluntly, now having her amusement being replaced with apathy for the much smaller-statured girl before here. "Why don't you just, I don't know, get a pin or something like that to hold it in place instead of screwing with it?" The model offered advice that she thought that Futaba probably already thought of.

This, of course, proved to be untrue when Futaba snapped her fingers and instantly turned to Ann, pointing at her and causing her to jolt in her seat. "You! You, youuuuuuuuuu genius! You genius I love you so much you have no idea!" Futaba proceeded to get up from her seat quickly. "I'll be back in a jiffy!" She then left the dynamic duo in their booth with nothing to do except watch in disbelief.

"This," Ryuji paused, shaking his head and rubbing his eyes with his free, pencil-less hand. "Is the girl that can blackmail our asses if she ever felt like it."

"I've heard of smart people lacking common sense before but _sheesh._ " Ann's eyes were still wide, watching the bell on the door until it stopped vibrating.

Sojiro just shrugged, a slight smirk on his face as he sprayed some sanitizer on the counter to wipe it off. "She's always been like that. Don't worry, she'll probably be back in a bit."

"Just hope she don't get lost." Ryuji turned back to his open textbook to keep working on the problem he left off on.

Ann felt her eyebrows raise automatically. "So, Makoto's really rubbed off on you, huh?"

"Huh?"

"Oh _please_ , Ryuji." Ann rolled her eyes. "Don't act dumb."

"Who says I need to act?" Ryuji retorted with a snarky tone.

"Anyways, Makoto!" His friend focused down on her chosen topic. "You two have been hanging out a lot!"

Ryuji put on a shy smile. "How'd you know?"

"Well other than that one time when the three of us hung out, I got told that you two have been hanging out with the others a lot and when you're not doing that, you're hanging out by yourselves." Ann finished with a wide smile. "Sounds like you're finally getting along with each other!"

"Yeah, that's…true." Ryuji adopted a more cautious tone to carry out the rest of the conversation. "So why did you wanna bring this up?"

"Well," Ann began slowly. She didn't want to rush into this conversation saying anything harsh or out of place. "What's the deal with you two?"

"Whaddya mean?" Ryuji asked as earnestly as he could through a thin acting veil, something that earned him an annoyed expression from Ann. _Right, don't play dumb. Got it._ "We're not datin', if that's what you're tryin' to get at."

"Would you tell me if you were?"

"Maybe. I'd probably tell Akira first if I'm honest. I know that Makoto kinda had a thing for him back in the day so that'd be some skeletons in my closet to clear out." Ryuji, in finishing his statement, found his blonde counterpart with her eyes practically covering up half of her head. "What's the matter?"

"Makoto liked Akira?!" Ann slammed her hands down on the table in exasperation. Sojiro, not wanting to interrupt the two with their gossip, just turned his head to the TV and turned the volume up just a tiny bit.

"Yeah, for real. The guy didn't like her, though. Never could really get a read for what kinda girl's his type though." Ryuji leaned back in his seat, bringing his drink to meet his lips at the destination. While doing this, he couldn't help but noticed a little red around his normally pale friend's neck. He cracked a smile and set his drink back down on the table gently, leaving the glass a little under half-full. "Lookin' awful flustered there, Ann."

Ann found herself caught off-guard. "W-What?! No, I'm not! I'm fine!"

"Ain't day-dreamin' about a certain leader of ours? A Phantom Thief of your Heart, I take it?"

"Now h-hold on a second!" Ann shot her hands up over her face. "God, how'd I let you take the reins for this conversation? We were talking about you and Makoto!"

"There's no point in talkin' about stuff that wasn't ever there to start, Ann." Ryuji's grin slid away slowly from his face, although his inner self still overjoyed with this new information to tease Ann with. "You and Akira though—now _that's_ somethin' alright." Ann's hands mirrored Ryuji's smile, slowly sliding away from her face except she was opting to keep her eyes to the floor.

"Ugh, Ryuji...I wanted to keep this away from everyone."

"Why?"

"Because all it does is make shit complicated! Akira's been gone for months now and feelings for him start popping up _now?!_ " Ann threw her arms up in frustration. "I just don't know what to do. Like, where should I even start?!"

 _Okay,_ _ **maybe**_ _leave the teasin' for another time buddy. Your friend needs ya._ "Well, have you talked to him about it yet?"

"Hm?" Obviously, Ann wasn't expecting an honest reply out of Ryuji.

"Have _you_ and _him_ _**talked**_ about it yet." Ryuji stated slower, making sure to emphasize what he thought was important.

Ann, although initially annoyed by the boy's condescending tone, ignored it and rubbed the back of her neck. "Well, no. I mean, I haven't even fully come to terms with what these feelings are."

"When did you realize you had a thing for him?" Ryuji saw the cogs turning in his friend's head, recounting memories of who-knows-what from who-knows-how-long-ago. _Don't hurt yourself._

Ann's eyes finally looked back at her friend, although not directly meeting him. "It's been about a month, give or take."

 _`Bout the time that Makoto and I started hangin' out._ Ryuji scratched the back of his head. "And the mushy feelings crap hasn't gone away, huh?"

"Nope. Not even a little." Ann placed her elbow on the table, perching her head up on her palm.

Ryuji rubbed his eyes, a habit he found himself doing a lot when he had to process information and think things through. "Ok, so as much as I don't wanna bring this up again," he found himself hesitating on whether to finish up the statement, ultimately deciding that it wasn't going to make things worse than they already were. "What's stoppin' you from talkin' to him in the same way that you and I talked about it those few months back?" He saw the girl pause for a moment, about to open her mouth to talk when another thought crossed his mind. "And don't give me that 'I don't have the time' or 'I'm too nervous' crap. You sure as hell didn't seem too worried if you were gonna fuck up our friendship bringin' that up. Shows where I rank on your list."

Ann felt like a deer in headlights and Ryuji, with a tinge of regret in his gut, felt like he was in the driver's seat gunning it just to hit her. He noticed tears began to swell up in the girl's eyes, causing him to mull over what he just said. _Maybe hammer the nail a little more softly next time idiot._ He let out a heavy sigh before going back down to his textbook, knowing nothing that he would say would mend her in her current state. For once, math felt like an escape from the real world around him. It was less worrisome and far less troublesome than dealing with another human being. _God, is this why Makoto studied all the time? You get a knack for it and suddenly all that shit around ya don't matter anymore, huh?_ Ryuji had almost tuned out Ann's silent sobbing entirely for five minutes until his ears perked at the sound of tears hitting the wooden tabletop with what he knew was just a light tap, but sounded like a crashing fist. To this, he found himself breaking his façade of ignorance and leaning back up to witness his friend, now much more misty-eyed and face redder. He looked around to room, surprised to find not even a trace of Sojiro who would've been there with a tissue and scolding for Ryuji at this point. He got up from his seat and went behind the counter, leaving Ann with a slight look of confusion on her face through the tears. That was until she heard the tearing sound of paper-towels, the closest thing to a tissue that the boy could end up scrounging for. Walking back over and handing her the towels, he found himself pondering over what to say next.

 _Fuck, I dunno if I should be delicate or just go full throttle now._ Ryuji sat back down as he watched Ann blot around her eyes with the towels, drying her face as best as she possibly could. He placed a pencil behind his heard and twirled another one around in his left hand, weaving it around his fingers carefully while tapping his foot incessantly. _I wanna explain to her what she needs to do but I sure as shit ain't gonna apologize for that. I meant every word of it._ He tried to look her in the eyes only to quickly look down at the pencil weaving through his fingers. _...almost every word of it, anyways. Dammit, I don't know what the fuck to do._

Ann ended up giving Ryuji his own answer for him. "Ryuji…" She began through choked back tears.

Ryuji made sure to be quick with his responses. "Yeah Ann?"

"I know you're right, about what you said. But…God, you're such a dick." Ann shook her head. "You're such a Goddamn dick."

 _I guess there ain't any denyin' that, huh?_ "Yeah, I s`pose I am." Ryuji went back to looking back at the pencil that he was subconsciously still spinning around for a moment to gather his thoughts. "Maybe I'm a sociopath or somethin'. But just `cause I say the shit that I do doesn't mean I want to hurt you." He felt his left leg began to bounce, irritated about the whole mess that the situation he found himself in was. A gear finally turned in his brain and the pencil stopped between his middle and ring finger. His eyes snapped back up to his friend, but he felt his annoyed scowl return to his face rather than an empathizing, soft stare.

"Maybe," Ann turned her head up to the boy in attention. "Maybe bringin' up what's happened with us was a bad example." Ryuji itched the back of his neck, kicking his own ass over and over in the back of his head for finally conceding a pseudo-apology. "I know that you can trust me to be your friend through thick and thin and all that shit, so I guess it makes sense for you to have no trouble bringin' it up with me. You aren't _as_ good of friends with Akira as you've been with me, so it makes sense that you'd be nervous to talk to the guy about it." Ryuji watched Ann's eyes brighten up just slightly. "Just don't be afraid to talk to him s`all I can say. Akira's a solid dude. Not like he's gonna stop bein' friends with you `cause he doesn't like you back."

Ann felt overwhelmed by her emotions. She didn't know whether to be sad or happy with how Ryuji's handled the conversation. On one hand, he could've phrased what he wanted to say a bit more nicely. But she understood that he wasn't really a well-spoken individual—although she did note that he's improved _massively_ since the last time they talked one-on-one—and she didn't want to hold that against him. Ultimately, her conscience led her to choosing to forgive the boy for his first poor choice of words, knowing that he meant well despite not being much of a public speaker.

"Ryuji…" Ann spoke the boy's name softly, as if not knowing whether to press forward with her acceptance.

"Yeah?" Ryuji leaned in with a deep intent to listen to his friend, even if it meant going through another tirade of a seemingly endless waterfall of words.

Instead, Ann surprised the boy with a simple, "Thanks." One word, and she said it wearing a smile, much to Ryuji's confusion.

"Wait, what? Ain't you gonna kick my ass or chew me out `til my ear falls off?"

Ann noted the boy hasn't learned any tact. Despite Makoto hanging out with him all the time the only thing that's looked to rub off on him is her study habits which, if Ann was being honest, wasn't exactly a bad habit to get into. "Ugh, just take the thanks already before I change my damn mind."

"Got it, shuttin' up now." Ryuji made a zipping motion across his lips, earning him a light-hearted chuckle from Ann.

"Well now that I've been emotionally torn apart and put back together in the span of ten minutes, I want to get back to you."

Ryuji's face donned a quizzical expression. "I thought we already went over this. There ain't nothin' there between me and Makoto."

"That's a shame. I think you two would look cute together. The 'bad boy' and the 'student council goody-two-shoes?' God, that ship practically sails itself." Ann teased Ryuji relentlessly, not letting him have a moment of respite.

Ryuji, feeling himself become flustered, cleared his throat while feeling the heat in his cheeks begin to rise. "Sorry to disappoint, but it wouldn't ever work out. She actually has plans for the future. I'm just goin' wherever the hell the wind blows me."

"So you haven't ever thought about it? Not once?" Ann earned a shrug from Ryuji.

"Course I thought about it. I think about it with just about any girl that I get to know well. Hell, I thought about you and me long before we even talked about it. Probably even before we formed the Phantom Thieves."

"Aw, now that's just adorable. Who would've guessed?" Ann felt a wide and toothy grin begin to form.

"Guessed what?"

"Ryuji Sakamoto: _Hopeless Romantic._ " Ann waved her right arm through the air in front of her, creating a rainbow motion that seemed to encompass an imaginary Broadway-style sign that hung above their heads.

"H-Hey!" Ryuji stammered, hopelessly leaning forward and putting his hands on the edge of the table to protest.

The duo found themselves interrupted by a harsh vibration on the table, one that caused them to look over at the source. It was Futaba's phone. The girl had been gone for about fifteen minutes now without their notice or grasp of time.

"Oh shit, I forgot she left." Ryuji stated bluntly.

"She's been gone for a while." Ann crossed her arms.

"She left her phone, huh? Typical…" The duo turned their heads rapidly to Sojiro returning to behind the counter from the bathroom. "Chances are she'll be back soon. God knows the kid wouldn't be able to live without technology."

"Y'know Boss, I thought you would've been more, uh, concerned." Ryuji hesitantly said.

"Hm? No, she's been doing alright. I trust Futaba enough to function in the real world. There's a good chance that she got distracted by some of that hacker crap in her room again. She inherited her mother's most dangerous features: wandering eyes _and_ a wandering mind. Ironic considering they both have the ability to focus on something they find important and keep progressing with it until they're finished or satisfied, whichever comes first." Sojiro chuckled to himself. "Still, she'll be back soon, like I said. You kids don't need to worry too much."

Ann couldn't help but put on a radiant smile. "I'm sure she'd be happy to hear you talk about how much her mother and her were alike." Sojiro shot back his own smile as he turned away from the kids to look over his curry ingredients in the fridge.

That left both Ryuji and Ann to stare at the phone, a forest-green light blinking at the top of it to signify a notification. For what seemed to be an eternity, they just sat there looking at it, waiting for the other to say something.

"You wanna look, don't ya?"

"Well, of course." Ann answered Ryuji's question honestly. "But this is Futaba's privacy. Shouldn't we respect that?"

"Since when have we really respected each other's privacy in this little circle of thieves? You and I basically just spilled our hearts. Why not get Futaba in on the action?" Ryuji suggested devilishly.

Ann stared at the phone, thinking over her answer. Ryuji couldn't help but chuckle and tease her some more. "You're _so_ Goddamn curious-"

Ann's head shot upwards to gaze at the ceiling. " _I am so curious you have no fucking idea Ryuji!_ " She almost shouted the words, catching herself so Sojiro wouldn't be able to hear the two.

"Well?" Ryuji continued.

Ann sighed. "How about, as a compromise, we just see who it's from and look at the little preview thing that most phones have?" Her idea was met with a look of thought from Ryuji, who eventually nodded his head in agreement. "Alright, here goes…"

Ann grabbed the phone, making a mental note of where it was on the table before, and placed it in the middle so both could read it at the same time.

"I'm gonna be so freakin' bummed if it's just like Haru or Makoto-"

"I don't think you'd be bummed at all to see _anything_ from Makoto." Ann interrupted coyly, earning a look of annoyance from Ryuji. "Hey, a girl's gotta take her shots where she can get 'em."

Ann pressed the power button to bring the screen on the phone to life. On the screen were but three notifications: an e-mail, a voicemail, and a text message, the final of which had the name _Yusuke Kitagawa_ at the head.

"From _Yusuke_ , huh?" Ryuji said with a smile.

"Oh please, Ryuji. He's probably just late getting back to her on some argument that they were having. Usual stuff." Ann rolled her eyes at her friend's imagination.

"Yeah, you're probably right." Ryuji quickly admitted, a signal for the two to go back to their original plans.

Ann ran her fingers across the screen, wiping away the notification for an e-mail so the message would begin to display. Looking over it, they began to read what would be the first line of said message.

 **Yusuke:** _Darling, when would you like me to come…_

As the message tapered off, Ann and Ryuji's mouths were agape. Out of pure shock and what felt to be an adrenaline rush, Ann quickly grabbed the phone, dulled the screen, and placed it back in its place of origin. After that she leaned back in her seat with her eyes wide and her hands cupping over her mouth. Ryuji found himself frozen looking at the empty spot on the table where the phone previously was.

" _Ohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygooooooooooood!"_ Ryuji could hear the girl speak, although muffled.

With his eyes slowly becoming unglued from the spot, he turned his head up to Ann could only bring himself to say, with a pause, "…what?" He was still in a heavy state of confusion.

"What the hell? Like, what the actual _hell?_ " Ann continued.

Ryuji's head began to clear up ever-so slightly. "Ann, I don't think you call a friend you get in arguments with 'Darling.'"

"I just, I mean, uh, I don't know!" Ann was still frantic, although calming down little by little.

Ryuji did his best to mediate the girl back to a point of logical thinking. "Hey, hey Ann. I need you to calm down. We don't know what exactly _that_ is about, so we can't say a damn thing."

"But…but… _'Darling?'_ " Ann's hands left her mouth and found their way to a new home, gripping the soft cushions of the booth firmly. "Ryuji, we don't need to be freakin' geniuses to figure out what's going on there!"

 _Yeah, it is pretty fuckin' obvious._ "Still, we just need to forget about what we've seen. We don't say anything until _they're_ ready to say anything, got it?"

"Why the hell are you so calm?! We just found out that two of our friends might be dating each other!" Ann was practically gnawing at the bit to be able to scream. "I'm not even shocked anymore, this is just pure excitement! I'm so happy about it!"

"Look, just…stay calm, alright? We don't need Futaba to know that we've found anything out. It might ruin the whole relationship experience for her. The girl was a fuckin' shut-in for years. The last things that she deserves is for us to sour the whole thing for her." Ryuji anxiously grabbed the pencil from beside his notebook again and started twirling it around his fingers once more. _God, don't get me wrong, I'm happy for those two if it really_ _ **is**_ _true, but…Goddammit, that shut-in has gotten a relationship off the ground in a year from her coming out of hiding and I haven't had one of my own in almost eighteen times as much time._ Ryuji shook his head. _The world's just fuckin' cruel sometimes._

Ann pondered over the words that the boy spoke to her, eventually meeting her eyes up with his again. "Yeah, I guess you're right. But still!"

Ryuji couldn't help but smile. "I get ya. Shit's excitin', I know. I don't think that means we have the right to go spreadin' the word, though." Ann let out a small giggle, causing a question to arise from Ryuji. "What's so funny?"

"When did _you_ become the voice of reason for the two of us? I thought that was supposed to be my job?"

"So I've matured a little bit. Sue me." Ryuji shrugged.

"Oh, there is _so_ a thing between you and Makoto." Ann said narrowing her eyes and putting on a crooked smirk, noting how her friend's matured since hanging out with Makoto. "Even if you don't know it, there is _so_ a thing."

Ryuji rolled his eyes. "Yeah, whatever ya say."

Ann was about to go into another round of having her fun in teasing Ryuji, but then the two heard the shop's bell ring. Running in came Futaba, out of breath, with safety pins holding back her sleeves at the wrist. Ann couldn't help but think of how she would have to help her poor geeky friend do a better job at hiding them.

"Sorry! Somethin' popped up on my computer about some guy trash-talking the _Phoenix Rangers_ series and you all know I could _not_ let that shit slide." Futaba waved her arms and shook her head as she approached the table.

"Well I'm glad you made it back in one piece, at least." Ann said with fake and bright smile, trying her best not to let her and Ryuji's secret slip through the cracks.

Ryuji shook his head at the girl's terrible acting skills, deciding he wasn't going to be around for when that shit hits the fan. "Well, if it's any difference to you girls, I'm gonna go change into my gym clothes and go for a run around this place before it gets too late." _Sounds like a lame-ass excuse to dip but I really did want to run for a bit before I went home._

Ann shot him a look of disapproval, only to quickly correct herself to a slightly more comforting approach. "Aw, well alright. Don't do anything too stupid, alright?"

"Gotta agree with my homegirl here." Futaba interjected, leaning up against the side of the booth Ann was seated in. "Just remember: no shady stuff, got it?"

"I'm gettin' crap from Medjed of all people?" Ryuji asked the girl.

"That's different." Futaba quickly held up her hand, pointing at Ryuji. "Now c'mon, get going already so I can sit." She began picking her bag up from the side Ann was on and began fanning at the boy with her free hand. "C'mon, shoo."

Ryuji, albeit annoyed, packed up his textbooks and various learning materials into his bag and, once completed, stood up with it in tow, only to have his seat immediately claimed by his redheaded friend, a smug look on her face. He proceeded to walk over to where Sojiro was standing with a question.

"Yo Boss, is Akira's old room still clear?"

Sojiro raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, why? You aren't getting kicked out by your folks, are you?"

"Well, it's just my mom and no, I'm not. I just need to change clothes really quick. Mind if I hop on up there and switch out of these duds?" Ryuji held his ugly school pants in his hand, pulling them out from his body slightly.

Sojiro crossed his arms. "Yeah, just make it quick. Don't need you to be getting too cozy around here."

Ryuji beamed at the older man. "Awesome. Thanks Boss!" As he began to walk towards the steps, the boy froze his self in place as he thought of a question. "Hey, so, Boss…"

"Yeah?"

Ryuji leaned in and lowered his voice to a whisper. "So, uh, does Futaba still have those bugs planted around your shop or did you make her get rid of those?"

Sojiro shot him a look of a confusion. "What bugs?"

 _I was afraid of that._ "It's nothin'. Thanks again Boss!" Ryuji then quickly turned and made his way to the flight of stairs, powering up the steps into his best friend's old room.

To Sojiro's word, he hadn't really touched the place ever since Akira left. The bed and all his little odds and ends were still in the same place where he had left them. Ryuji could only feel a wave of nostalgia wash over him, bringing back memories of when the gang used to gather here for their heist meetings.

 _That's all behind you now, bud. Can't keep living in the past._ Ryuji sighed to himself as he took off his shirt, beginning to gear up for his evening run.

* * *

Ryuji felt the subway car creak around him, the confines around him tight and closed. He stumbled through every thought that crossed his mind, recountingthe events of the past few hours. He wanted to be able to talk to Ann one-on-one without having to worry about her crying about the not-boyfriend-girlfriend situation, convince the girl to talk to Akira about her feelings, and, as for himself, he wanted to be able to discern what him and Makoto have between each other. _Then there's Futaba and Yusuke with their bullshit apparently, but that's questions for another time._ The blonde strengthened his grip on the pole with his right hand and dug through his pocket for his phone, eventually finding it to start flipping through his contacts. He found himself automatically at the 'A' section, and pressed the only name above Ann's as he pressed the phone to his ear. After a few rings, his best friend picked up the phone on the other end.

"Hello?" Akira asked rather groggily.

"Hey, Akira?" Ryuji asked as if he wasn't sure this was still his friend's number.

"Ryuji?" Akira, at least to Ryuji, sounded like he almost instantly woke up at realizing who he was talking to. "It's kind of late. Why are you calling?"

Ryuji let out a small inaudible chuckle. _That damn cat's finally rubbed off on ya huh? It's only_ _9 buddy._ "Well, I got stuff I wanna talk to you about."

"Okay…" Akira trailed off. "Go on and shoot then."

"I mean, not right now. In person."

"Oh. That bad, huh?" Akira felt himself smiling.

"Yeah, you could say that." Ryuji smiled as he looked around at the train emptying out at the announcement for the arrival at Shibuya.

"Yeesh, I haven't even been gone for that long. Need to slow down a bit before I have to go get your ass out of prison."

"Funny, ya prick. Look, you free this Sunday? I can drive down in my mom's old clunker if she doesn't mind."

"Uhhhh, yeah. I shouldn't be bu- wait, you got your license?"

"Huh? Yeah. It wasn't really that difficult after a while. Hell, the hardest part was scrounging up the money to actually buy the fuckin' license and stuff." Ryuji stated rather proudly.

"Neat." Akira looked down at his bedroom floor with a little bit of guilt when he remembered how his friends insisted the he keep the money from their Phantom Thief days. "But anyways, yeah, I should be free if you really want to make the drive out to my little slice of nowhere. We can meet up at a little café that I know about that's just a few blocks away from my house."

"Can't stay away from coffee shops, huh?"

"They're very calming."

 _Tell that to Boss._ "Anyways, yeah sure. I'll work some more for the rest of the week so I got some extra cash." Ryuji heard the announcement for his stop and readied himself by the metal doors.

"Sounds like a plan." Akira lied back down in his bed. "See ya Sunday then."

"Alright, I'll see ya Sunday. Goodnight bud." Ryuji hung up on the phone call, slid his phone in his pocket, and stepped out into the brisk night air.


	5. A Brief Break

"Makoto?"

"What is it sis?" Makoto turned her head up from her homework to the elder Niijima sister of the household who was sitting in the living room watching the evening news.

"Have you been…doing alright?" Sae tried asking in the least awkward way that she possibly could while grabbing the remote control on the coffee table in front of her to mute the program. "I've noticed you've been going out a lot more than usual."

Makoto could feel a hint of guilt tug at her heartstrings. "Yeah, I'm alright. Is there a problem with me doing that?"

"No, not at all. I just wanted to make sure that you haven't gotten yourself wrapped up in anything terrible again."

The guilt was replaced with anger. "Are you saying what we did as Phantom Thieves was terrible?"

Sae smiled. "I was _talking_ about Kaneshiro, not the Phantom Thieves. Although I would've preferred you avoiding both entirely, I suppose that's just asking too much of you."

Makoto felt her cheeks redden. "Oh. Um, sorry for assuming you were talking about-"

"It's okay." Sae turned her attention back to the news, pressing the button to let what would be Makoto's background noise spread through the apartment. "I know you'll defend your friends and what you did until the day you die, so there would be no point in me bringing any of that up now."

And just like that, the conversation had died. This was how most evenings in the Niijima household were going ever since the Phantom Thieves' disbandment. The two sisters would talk much more than they had in the past, but it was still less than the average family. It wasn't that either of the two hated each other either. Both just lived by a principle that if there was something to be said to one another, then it would be something of importance. Makoto had her friends and schoolmates to talk about what Sae would consider frivolous, and Sae got all the talking she wanted out of the day at her job. By the end of the day, neither sister had much of anything that either sought out to talk about.

Today, however, was what Makoto felt to be an exception.

The studious woman wanted to reinitiate a conversation with her sister. The problem remained: where did she start?

"Hey sis." Makoto began.

"Yes Makoto?" Sae's eyes remained on the TV.

"Um…how did your day go?"

Sae, understandably caught off-guard, turned her head to the side to face her sister whilst muting the news once again. "It was fine. Why do you ask?"

Makoto looked to the floor. _Now that you mention it, I'm not even sure why I asked._ "No real reason. I was just curious. We don't really talk much."

"I see." Sae remained skeptical. "Are you sure this isn't for any…other reason?" The lawyer inside her began to slowly make its way to the surface.

"What do you mean?" Makoto felt herself go on the defensive, knowing her sister's lawyer game a little _too_ well.

"Well, you've certainly changed a lot recently. And I'm not just talking about all that Phantom Thief business that happened." Sae turned off the television, giving all of her focus to her sibling. "I suppose I could just chalk it all up to you going off to college and going through the motions, but somehow I highly doubt that that's the case."

Makoto scratched her head, eyes still drawn to the floor. "I'm not really sure how to respond to that, sis."

"I wasn't really finished." Sae smirked, knowing that her standard law practices were going to start kicking in gear. "As I was saying, you have definitely changed. However, this isn't at all similar to how you changed during your rebellious Phantom Thief streak." The tall lawyer stood up from her seat and made her way over to the table, sitting down slowly into the seat opposite of Makoto. "Perhaps you _are_ getting wrapped up in some illegal business and you're just lying to my face?"

Makoto firmly grasped both her hands on the edge of the table and leaned forward, finding herself on the verge of screaming, "No! I swear I'm not doing any of that!"

Sae smiled, knowing she was goading her sister into putting it all out in the open all on her own. "And how do you expect me to believe that?"

Makoto couldn't find her words that usually so naturally came to her. The feeling was a strange one that she has only experienced a few amount of times before. She hated giving in to her sister's game so easily. Her mind raced furiously, going over all the options in her head only to find that all of them led to the penultimate decision that maybe being open with her sister would be a good thing for once in her damn life.

"I've been spending time with a friend from my Phantom Thief days, if that is what you want to hear."

Sae sighed in satisfaction. "So that's all it was, huh?"

"Yes, that's it." Makoto nodded.

"I don't understand why you were making such a big deal about that though." Sae shrugged. "You don't have to be afraid to be open with me. You're an adult now, so I trust you as long as you're not doing anything _too_ idiotic."

Makoto rolled her eyes. "Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence sis." The girl watched her sister chuckle.

"So which one is it?"

"Hm?" Makoto raised her eyebrows.

"I'm just curious which one of your friends it is. Takamaki? Kitagawa? I know it isn't Kurusu now that he's back in his hometown."

"Um…" Makoto bit her lip. "It's actually Ryuji."

Sae's expression immediately changed to shock. "I'm sorry, I think I must've misheard you. Did you say you're hanging out with Ryuji Sakamoto?"

"Yes…?"

"Well that certainly is a surprise." Sae ran a hand through her hair. "He's not getting you involved in anything shady, is he?"

"Look sis, I know you never really held him highly even when he was part of the Phantom Thieves with the rest of us, but he's a good guy. The only reason he ever got such a bad reputation was because of the whole Kamoshida incident." Makoto found herself disgusted by her sister's presumptuous attitude.

"I'm just making sure, Makoto. I feel it's my responsibility to look after you not only as your caretaker, but as your sister." Sae crossed her arms. "I hold no qualms with Sakamoto, I hope you know."

Makoto smiled. "I appreciate that, sis. Ryuji definitely doesn't deserve the bad rep he deserves. He's so kind and compassionate, he listens to everything I have to say, and to top it all off he's a hard worker. Sure, he has a temper, but we're working on that." Makoto's face changed to confusion when she noticed her sister laughing to herself. "What has you so…giddy?"

Sae gathered her bearings to respond. "Of all the things to come out of this, my younger sister getting a boyfriend sure wasn't even close to being on the list."

Makoto felt blood instantly rush to her face. "W-Wait, what?"

"Oh please, no need to hide it anymore. The way that you gushed over the boy made it all the more obvious."

"Wait wait wait, no!" Makoto held her arms out and shook her head violently, eventually focusing back in on her sister. "No, Ryuji and I are _just_ friends."

"Somehow I doubt that, but if you insist." Sae got up from her seat, looking down at her sister while standing beside her now empty chair. "Well I'm going to go and get some shuteye. I think you have some homework to do and, for once," Sae felt a large smile begin to prosper. "It isn't anything you'll find in a textbook."

Makoto reeled back, her face still a rosey red and her eyes drifting down to her still-open textbook. She only found herself able to mumble out a "Goodnight," to her sister before just sitting there, letting her mind wander.

Of course the college freshman had feelings for Ryuji. It was something that she had to come to terms with about four months ago. It was the group of ex-Phantom Thieves all hanging out in LeBlanc—unfortunately, at that point, without their fearless leader—reminiscing about their accomplishments over the past year. Everything about Ryuji that evening, she remembered, kept her slightly enamored. Over the course of that evening, the feelings only grew. They peaked when she had to leave and Ryuji, out of the entire group and without missing a beat, volunteered to walk her to the train station. After some walking and talking, she waved goodbye to the boy, boarded her train, and did everything in her power to stop herself from having a heart attack from how fast it was beating. And, until recently, that was it. Nothing else happened, much to Makoto's dismay.

 _Should've asked him out there, ya genius._ Makoto slumped back in her chair and closed her textbook, deciding that next week's homework can wait until tomorrow.

As she was putting her books back into her bag, she felt her phone vibrate. When she looked to check it, she found a text from Ryuji awaiting her. Makoto couldn't help but smile as she tapped the screen a few times to get to the message.

 **Ryuji:** _Hey Makoto! Just so you know, I'm not gonna be able to hang out until later on Sunday if you wanted to. I'm heading down to visit Akira that day since we both had free time and I haven't gotten to see him in a while._

Makoto's smile only got brighter. _So he wants to hang out later on Sunday, huh?_ She readied her fingers to reply.

 **Makoto:** _That's fine. What time should you be back?_

 **Ryuji:** _Eh, probably around 7-ish? Sounds about right._

 **Makoto:** _Alright. So do you want to meet at the diner about 8?_

 **Ryuji:** _Sounds good! I'll see ya then! Night Makoto!_

 **Makoto:** _Goodnight Ryuji._

Although she found the way he ended their texts a little abrupt, Makoto was still happy that the boy decided to contact her. _Maybe this isn't such a bad idea after all._ At that thought, the brunette got up from her seat, turned off all the lights, and headed into her bedroom.

* * *

 **So as much as I wanted to start on the next chapter, I just thought of this as I was mulling over ideas for the future of this story. I don't really consider this a chapter as it isn't very long, but I thought it'd be interesting to explore the interactions between Makoto and Sae as sisters ever since the Phantom Thieves dissolved. While I would've liked to put a bit more time into it, I'm still happy with how it is.**

 **Thanks to everyone for sticking with the story so far! I've enjoyed writing it, so I hope that you stick around for future updates!**


	6. A Long Time Coming

_C'mon, Goddammit. I ain't got all day._

Ryuji Sakamoto found himself sitting in Tokyo traffic on a sunny and cool Sunday morning, one hand on the steering wheel with the other supporting his head with it placed on the driver's door. His left leg was bouncing with the impatience built up from being stuck in a cluster of cars that appeared to have no sign of breaking up. The boy's right leg was planted firmly on the brake pedal.

Inch by inch, the traffic crawled forward. Ryuji's efforts to spare himself of boredom and irritation by jamming out to his usual music were all for naught. He felt broken, sometimes wishing that whatever God there was to just smite him where he sat. Having a Shadow beat him to oblivion felt it'd be a better time to him. Admittedly, the boy's mind began to lazily drift away from the thought of the terrible traffic and tried to think about more important matters.

 _Maybe I shouldn't be doing this._ Ryuji was beginning to rethink his tactics on how he should be approaching this situation. Even talking to Akira felt like a not-so-splendid idea, only due to any fear that still lingered. But what else could he do? He needed to talk to somebody about this, and who better than his best friend who, more than likely, has had at least some experience in this field; more than Ryuji has ever had, and that's all that mattered. He wanted to be able to speak with Ann, but he was afraid that a conflict of interest might arise. _Not to mention the poor girl has more than enough on her plate._

"What the fuuuuck…" Ryuji was obviously irritated, thinking to himself aloud instead of keeping to the confines of his head. "I didn't think shit would be this complicated." Fortunately for him, the tightknit group of cars had begun to break apart and free up space, eventually leading him to an off-ramp. He would have plenty of time to think about this later when he was talking with Akira, so he didn't want to frustrate himself now. Instead, Ryuji cleared his head and turned up his music again.

* * *

 _This…looks like the place._ Ryuji pulled into a parking spot on the side of the road just outside of what looked to be the coffee shop Akira had been talking about. He put the car in park and, after taking the key out of the ignition and locking the doors, stepped out of his vehicle to look around for his friend, who he couldn't find after the initial scan.

 _Gotta say though,_ _Akira sure as shit wasn't lyin'._ Ryuji leaned up against a nearby lamp pole and looked down the vacant street, watching the occasional car pass by. _There really ain't anything here. Makes me wonder how the heck anything stays in business here._ He heard footsteps approaching his spot, but ignored them, deciding that they probably just belonged to some stranger. That is, until the noise stopped a few feet short from where he stood.

"Well damn, the whole town's gonna go down in the dumps now that you're here."

Ryuji turned his attention to the voice, a smile instantly happening upon his face at the sight of his best friend. "The place already went to shit when some convict moved back in."

Akira let out a small chuckle. "Nice to see you're doing ok, Ryuji. I'd say you're doing great but I don't think you'd be here if that was the case."

"I can't just visit my best friend when I got time?"

"Not when I live this far out."

Ryuji narrowed his brows. "It's only a little over an hour drive."

"And you have the patience of a gnat." Akira mused. "You wouldn't make the drive unless you felt like you had to."

Ryuji grunted, admitting defeat. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. I told ya `bout this when I talked to ya over the phone anyway." He waved his arm lazily at the café. "Can we just head inside?"

"If you insist." Akira started off towards the building. He had only taken three steps when Ryuji heard him quip "Kurusu one; Sakamoto zero."

"Tch." Ryuji closed his eyes and shook his head, setting off after Akira. His friend was still his usual sassy self. And, if Ryuji were being honest, he was happy. The last thing that he needed was his best friend of all people to be changing.

"They serve tea here, so you don't have to worry about the whole coffee thing." Akira glanced behind him to his friend. "Figured you haven't picked up on the taste of coffee since I left."

"Well you'd be right. Still hate the crap." Ryuji cracked a grin. "Still, I'm probably just gonna settle for some water. I don't exactly have spendin' money to spare."

"You used it all coming down here?" Akira, upon reaching the door, grabbed the handle and opened it while turning to face Ryuji. "You _know_ I still have money from-"

"Save it. You know damn well I ain't gonna go askin' for cash unless I'm desperate." Ryuji walked past Akira into the shop, the smell of freshly brewed coffee filling his nose. He inhaled deeply, noting the smell didn't quite seem to be the same as Leblanc's. Over the past few months since Akira's departure he would be apt to admit that Sojiro's shop had become a second home to him. So, in comparing the two, Ryuji couldn't help but feel like something was off. The smell, although mostly the same, felt foreign to the boy.

"Ah! Hello!" Ryuji was so entranced in trying to figure out his problem with the shop's smell that he didn't even notice the girl behind the counter. Akira, after making his own way into the café, tapped his friend on the shoulder to try and bring him back to reality.

"Huh?" Ryuji looked quizzically at his surroundings for a moment before realizing that he had zoned out. "Oh, sorry `bout that." Akira couldn't help but smile.

The woman behind the counter then noticed the black-haired male. "Well hello there Kurusu-kun! And how are you doing today?"

"Oh, you know, same old same old." Akira made his way up to the counter. "How about you, Watanabe-san?"

"The store's slow as always." The older woman admitted, before looking past Akira at Ryuji. "Well who's your friend?"

Akira turned back to his friend who, for some odd reason, was enamored with the menu board above the counter. "That's my old friend from Tokyo, Ryuji Sakamoto. Remember the guy I always told you about?"

"Oh, so _he's_ the troublemaker that got you in trouble all the time!" At that, Ryuji suddenly found himself out of his trance once again.

"Hold up, what?" Ryuji questioned before walking up and looking towards Akira. "Dude, what the hell?"

"Relax, I didn't tell her everything." Akira held up his hands in defense. "Just that you were a delinquent of sorts."

Ryuji scowled at his friend. "Ya don't just go around sayin' that crap though!"

The owner couldn't help but smile. "Now boys, let's settle down." She then reached under the counter and grabbed a pen and a pad of paper that had, from what Ryuji could tell, orders from earlier that day. It may be dead, but it was still a coffee shop so it was bound to get some business in the morning. "So tell me what I can get you both."

Ryuji itched at the back of his neck before speaking. "Uh, I'll just take some water right now if that's al-"

"He'll take tea. Just sencha, nothing fancy." Akira rolled his eyes when he saw his friend try to protest. "And I'll have the house blend, please." He reached in left pocket of his jeans for his wallet while the owner was finishing jotting down the order. Akira was told his total, paid, and then proceeded to heed the woman's instructions to find a seat.

Leaving the counter, Akira felt a slight playful bump on his right shoulder. "Dude, what the eff?" Ryuji was doing his best to hide his smile.

"The tea here's good. You'll love it." Akira stopped at a booth that was the furthest out of earshot of Watanabe. The former leader of the Phantom Thieves was just looking out for his best friend's privacy. Not that Ryuji was a quiet guy in the first place, but it was more-so the principle of the matter. Akira took his spot in one side of the booth with his friend occupying the opposite, both looking out the large window to spot a rare person passing by.

A few long and agonizing seconds passed before Akira, who was eyeing his uncharacteristically nervous friend during that time, just shook his head and sighed. "So?"

Ryuji did what he thought he did best: play dumb. "So, what?"

"You idiot, I can't help you if you don't learn to talk a little bit." Akira grimaced. "I thought that you'd learn to open up a bit since I've been gone. It's beyond me how you can be so loud but want to keep all the important stuff to yourself."

Ryuji shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "Yeesh, cutting straight to the gist, huh?" Akira showed no emotional change, his face remaining slightly annoyed. "Alright, alright fine. Figured you'd at least wanna chit-chat a little with your old pal before divin' in."

"I like making efficient use of my time. I'm a creature of habit." Akira couldn't mask the sly grin coming forth. "We'll have plenty of time to talk about other things after, but first I want to make sure my teammate—and my best friend—is doing okay."

Ryuji opted not to protest despite every fiber of his being deciding to be reluctant. "Yeah, I guess you're right." He looked out the window at his mom's old clunker, wondering if the parent was going about her day alright before focusing back in on Akira. Upon doing so, he scratched the back of his head. "Where the hell do I start?"

Before Akira could reply, Watanabe came over and placed both boys' drinks in front of them. The duo thanked her and, after Akira watched the woman walk out of earshot, continued the conversation.

"Well this definitely isn't the straight-forward Ryuji I got to know, so it isn't something you're all too familiar with apparently." Akira noted.

"You got me there. I don't really get what's wrong with me. I've been doin' a lot better in school and stuff, y'know?" Ryuji took a sip of his tea, pausing for a moment to not only think over what to say, but remarking in his mind how damn hot the tea still was. "I ain't doin' a lot with 'em anymore, but me and the track team's finally on speakin' terms. The old PT crew has been tryin' our damnedest to get back to hangin' out a bit more often. Most of the time we're just hangin' in groups of two or three though."

Akira rested his chin on his palm, head cocking slightly to the left. "So, everything sounds like it's going great then." Ryuji nodded in agreement.

"I'd say things have been the best they've been ever since you left. If I'm bein' honest with ya, we hung out once as an entire group after you came back here." Ryuji admitted, watching his friend raise some surprised eyebrows. "I know you wanted us to keep goin' on with our lives like nothin's changed, but it just wasn't the same. Don't get the wrong idea, we still had our fun together that night, but I think we all kinda realized that it wasn't gonna be the same until we all got used to our leader not bein' around anymore."

"You guys _do_ realize I'm literally an hour's drive away, correct? Chances are I'm not doing anything most of the time, so you're free to come down and visit whenever you like." Akira pondered over what he said for a brief moment, tacking on "Just please give me a day's warning or something."

"Yeah yeah, we all know bud. And I know I said that you were only an hour away from us, but personally, I don't come down and visit ya more often `cause I'm either workin' or studyin' in most of my free time. Also, comin' down too often just kinda taxes ya after a while. I haven't seen you in months and I feel like I'm alright with that just `cause of that stupid drive down here."

"I think you forget that Makoto can drive too. You wouldn't have to do it if you didn't want to." Akira felt his eyes widen as he watched his friend squirm at the mention of the girl's name.

"Oh, yeah. Forgot about her."

Akira, now smirking, raised his coffee up to his lips. "Mhm, sure you did." After taking a delicate drink of his coffee, Akira continued. "So, you mentioned that you're doing much better in school now, correct?"

Ryuji raised a skeptical eyebrow. "I thought you weren't up for chit-chattin' until you figured out my problem?"

"Oh, I'm rethinking my strategy. Maybe talking through your day-to-day life will help enlighten you a little. Think of it like I'm playing with my food until we get around to it though." Akira settled in his seat, back up against the booth as he eyed his now nervous friend from across the table.

"C'mon man, is that really supposed to comfort me?"

"Do you want me to help you or not?" Akira took another drink of his coffee before continuing. "Now, we were talking about school."

Ryuji, although begrudgingly, pressed onwards. "Well, that's the thing: I'm not sure what to tell ya now."

"You said you were doing better in school now, correct?"

"Yeah."

"How did that come to be? The Ryuji I knew would try by any means necessary to avoid doing any schoolwork, let alone studying at all." Akira watched his friend don an expression of relenting agreement. "So, what happened?"

Ryuji scratched his left cheek with his index finger. "I've been doin' well enough to study on my own now, but if you wanna know how it all started then really it's `cause of nobody `cept Makoto."

"You don't say?" Akira asked, amused by what was about to unfold.

"Yeah. She's really been savin' my ass recently with all the crap she's helped me with. It ain't just school stuff anymore either." Ryuji earned a sound of curiosity locked up behind his friend's lips. "Believe it or not she's the one that I've been hangin' out with the most. Ann's been busy with her modelin' crap, Haru goes to business meetings most of the time, and Yusuke and Futaba are probably humpin' like rabbits behind our backs."

Akira, whilst taking a drink of his now half-full coffee, almost choked. He held a finger up in the air while he gathered himself, signaling Ryuji to pause for a moment so that he may share his feelings on what he was told.

"I'm sorry, what did you just say?"

"Huh? Oh yeah, you don't know `bout that yet, do ya buddy?" Ryuji grinned and leaned back in his seat. "Ann and I found out completely by accident." _Well,_ _ **mostly**_ _by accident._ "We ain't told anyone else yet though. And I didn't mean to tell you either, just got caught up in the flow of our little chit-chat."

"Well that's...something, I guess?" Akira, for the first time in a long time, felt dazed and confused. "I knew that they were always doing their play-arguing thing but yeesh." He leaned back in his seat, removed his glasses, and started to rub his eyes out of annoyance. He made a circular motion with the hand holding his glasses. "Anyways, moving on. You were talking about Makoto."

Ryuji shrugged. "There ain't much more to tell ya, I'm afraid. I was surprised to find out how well we just, y'know," he snapped his fingers along, searching for the right word, until finally settling on "clicked. Makoto definitely ain't the same girl that joined our rag-tag band of misfits though."

Akira, now satisfied with how much he rubbed his eyes, put his glasses back on and found himself thinking again. "How so?"

"The girl's a lot more care-free—about as much that Makoto can stand to be—but she never lost that drive that makes her work, y'know? When she finds somethin' she wants, she just goes for it, puttin' aside all that risk and shit to reach her goal. I admire that a lot. Gotta say though, the side of her that just doesn't care is just so, uh…" Ryuji scratched his head, again searching for a word that would be apt to describe the girl. _Charming? No, that ain't it. Awesome? No, everything about her is awesome. I'd just be repeatin' myself. No, what the hell's the word?!_ He hadn't really ever thought about it before, but it was almost a sudden realization that hit him when he felt blood surge to his cheeks, making them rosey and warm.

"Let me take a shot in the dark here." Akira jested, obviously amused by his friend's struggle. "Were you going for somethin' along the lines of 'hot?' 'Cute?'" Akira made sure to put emphasis on his next word. "' _Sexy?_ '"

"Dude!" Ryuji couldn't believe that his friend beat him to his brain's destination. Hesitantly, the boy mumbled "Can't believe you beat me to the punch."

"Hm?"

Ryuji recomposed himself, straightening up his posture and waving off his friend's words. "Nothing, nothing."

"You know I'm right."

"Does it matter?" Ryuji responded, a tinge of annoyance in his voice. "Does it matter if I think Makoto's 'hot' or 'sexy' or whatever the hell you wanna call her? Doesn't make a difference if I think that way `bout her if she doesn't think of me as more than just another guy friend of hers."

"So, you really have a thing for Makoto, huh?" Akira, in the back of his head, moved a chess piece around to corner Ryuji into a checkmate. "Is that what's been bothering you?"

Ryuji sat silently, unmoving and steady until he took a deep breath, sighing heavily. He was reluctant to accept it, but what Akira said sounds like that sure is the problem. "Yeah." He nodded, glancing at his friend for a second for looking away, slightly ashamed for his feelings. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

"Of course I'm right." Akira said harshly. "It'd be dumb if you said the stuff you did about Makoto and didn't like her."

"Ever heard of an admirer?"

"Ever heard of a stalker?"

"Tch." Ryuji waved his friend off before going back to their talk on Makoto. "So?"

"So…what?" Akira asked blankly.

"So what do I do now?" Ryuji almost demanded from his friend.

He received a shrug in response. "Ask her out? Don't? It's one option or the other my friend, there really isn't much of a grey area to cover."

"I was expectin' somethin' more, I dunno, in-depth." Ryuji was in shock that his friend, who he thought would have an answer for just about anything he asked him, was clueless.

"Hey, you asked me to help you figure out what your deal was, I did that. What you do with that info now is completely out of my control." Akira told his friend while lifting his coffee up to his lips to finish off.

"But, like, ain't it wrong?" Ryuji protested.

"Isn't what wrong?"

"Me havin' these feelings for Makoto."

Akira raised a skeptical brow. "Why in the hell would it be wrong for you to have feelings for a woman? Ryuji, I knew that you had fuck-all experience with women, but why would you ever think it'd be wrong for you to have feelings for someone?"

Ryuji thought over his words for a few seconds before speaking. "I guess it's `cause of the shit that I usually bring along with me, y'know? I got baggage dude, there ain't no arguing that. And Makoto's a friend, so why would I ever wanna screw that up? We got a good thing goin' here and some stupid feelings are gonna come along and wreck it? The hell is wrong with me?"

"There isn't a thing wrong with you Ryuji." Akira felt his eyes look upwards, thinking over that statement. "Well, there isn't anything wrong with you in regards to what you're feeling. And as for the whole 'she's my friend' thing, sometimes you must make a sacrifice and go for broke if you think that you really have a shot at making something good into something better. Makoto's a great girl Ryuji, she isn't going to hurt you for having feelings for her."

Ryuji replied with a heavy sigh before putting on a wry smile. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

Minutes passed as the two sat in pure silence. Neither needed to say a word to each other as they heard the seconds on the clock of the café tick away. They both recognized they just needed a brief mental breather. Whenever either one of them felt refreshed, they'd press on and either stay or move onto a new topic. They had done this many times back in Tokyo over bowls of ramen. Ryuji was secretly happy that this hadn't changed a bit.

But, he was aware that it needed to end sooner or later. "Y'know I'm just gonna pussy out and probably never tell her, right?" Ryuji asked his friend.

"I got one-hundred yen that says otherwise."

"Easiest money in my life."

Akira smiled humbly. "You'll see. You haven't liked a girl like this before, have you?"

Ryuji shook his head. "Not in this way, nah."

"Like I said, you'll see." Akira stared out of the window, noting that it had grown a little bit darker than he thought it would have been. "Probably need to think about getting out this little town here soon, huh?"

"Yeesh, tryin' to get rid of me so quick? I got another four hours before I got plans to go to."  
"Makoto?" Akira questioned.

"Shut it."

Akira chuckled before moving on. "I wasn't talking about you, Ryuji."

Ryuji's happier mood turned a bit sour. "Miss us that badly, huh?"

Akira nodded. "More than you could ever imagine. And it isn't just you guys. I miss the vibrant city, the rusty café that I was shacked up in, and just the rest of the scene."

"And you get stuck in this slice of nothin' huh?"

"Don't get the wrong idea, this town has its quirks and charm, but it doesn't hold a candle to Tokyo for me. I just want to—no, I _need_ to go back."

"There's college next year man."

Akira shook his head. "I'm patient, but I'm not sure if I'm that patient."

"Don't worry man. Ann, me, and the others will all be waiting for you when you get to come back!" Ryuji shot his friend a smile. Unexpectedly, however, he didn't get the same look. Instead he got the same quizzical expression that Akira had given him when trying to figure out his problem. "Somethin' got you dude?"

"Well, it was just the way you said the order of the names."

"What about it?"

"Human behavior dictates that when someone is holding back information on someone they'll try anything to try and bring the topic around to talking about them."

"Where the hell is this coming from?"

"Small town and a lot of free time. Books are pretty entertaining sometimes. I can't just play video games all day, now can I?"

Ryuji squinted his eyes and shook his head. "Ok, whatever. But what does that have to do with what I just said?"

"It was the way you rattled off the names: 'Ann, me, and the others.' You listed Ann off first. So, if I'm following the rules of human interaction correctly, then you have something about Ann that you aren't telling me."

Ryuji sat there awestruck. "Where the hell was this when you were leadin' our asses around palaces?"

"It was there, but I was having fun at the time so it never really came to light."

"Yeesh." Ryuji shook his head. "I guess you kinda earned the info off of figurin' that shit out, huh?"

"No, I'm just wanting to be told that I'm a good boy and for you to rub my belly." Akira batted his eyes at his friend with a pouty lower-lip.

"Alright, I get it. Cut that crap, you're freakin' me the hell out." Akira obliged, but not before reveling in his own smugness before doing so. "Look, I'm doin' the same deal that you did with me: I tell you the info, you do with it what you will, got it?"

"Sounds fair. Shoot." Akira leaned forward, his head propped up by his left arm.

"The girl likes you bud."

Akira, usually so quick-witted, was at a loss for words. He wasn't even sure if he had heard Ryuji correctly. "I'm sorry, care to repeat that?"

"Ann, the chick that you wanted to know `bout, has a crush on you." Ryuji said much more slowly than his previous statement. "Y'know she's gonna kill me for tellin' you, right?"

"That _does_ sound like Ann." Akira agreed. "Still, I didn't really think that I'd be her type. This is pretty unexpected."

"You're tellin' me. I was just givin' her a hard time. I didn't think the girl actually had a thing for ya. Figured she'd go for the buff meathead type of guys." Akira let out a gentle laugh, causing Ryuji to respond with a confused expression. "Uh, what's so funny."

"I know I didn't think that I was Ann's type, but what you just said _definitely_ doesn't sound like her type." Akira said, a bit amused by his friend's ignorance. "You saw how she reacted to those guys hitting on her and the others at the beach. They were a bunch of buffed up idiots but you didn't see her swoon over the guys."

"Then what did you think her type was?"

Akira pondered over the question for a moment before coming to the conclusion that he actually didn't really know. He just always assumed the he wasn't the type of guy that Ann would've liked. "Huh. I actually don't know. It was less about others being her type and more about me always thinking that I just wasn't her type."

Ryuji cocked an eyebrow. "What do you mean 'always thinking?'"

"Well I've liked her for the longest time." Akira watched his friend's expression turn to that of surprise. "Yeah, it's true. I think it was probably the moment I laid eyes on her during the whole Kamoshida debacle."

"You've been holdin' it in for that long, huh?"

"Yeah. Go figure, huh? I can't even hardly follow my own advice."

"Don't hold it against yourself man. You were running a criminal organization at the time. You datin' one of our members could've been trouble and caused a lot more stress in the long run." Ryuji tried his best to sound sentimental towards his friend. After all, Akira had just helped him work through his own romantic issues. It would be wrong for him to not and try to return the favor. "Also, Ann didn't start havin' these thoughts about ya until recently. I dunno if she would've thought any different back then, but I'm just lettin' ya know what I know now."

"And that's what I was always afraid of. I didn't want our group to fall apart. Hell, you saw how well Morgana handled just doubting himself. God knows what would've happened if I tried asking Ann out and we started dating." Akira shook his head. "I was constantly under this pressure that I had to be levelheaded and keep moving forward for the sake of the Phantom Thieves. I couldn't even comprehend trying to bring a relationship into the mix. Especially one that involved someone else in the group."

"I dunno how you handled it man. But hey, look where we are now: saviors of the entire human race from some evil God thingey." Ryuji held up his cup of tea as if toasting his friend. "What more could ya ask for than that?"

Akira chuckled. "Yeah, I suppose you're right."

* * *

The duo's conversation went for another couple of hours before Ryuji decided that he needed to start thinking about heading back to Tokyo. They thanked Watanabe for the patronage and headed outside into the cold autumn air. Winter was approaching and soon it would find itself hovering over Japan's heads. All it did for the two boys, however, was remind them that it was approaching the date of when they defeated Jaldabaoth.

"Can't believe it's been almost a year." Ryuji stated rather bluntly. "All that crap about merging the cognitive world with the real world feels like it's been forever ago, huh?"

"Yeah. I'm still reminded daily thanks to Morgana being around, but now it'd be weird to not to hear him speak."

"Speaking of, where is the little annoyin' fur-ball? I thought he tagged along with you everywhere?"

"He hasn't been feeling great recently. I think it was some bad sushi that he decided to snack down on, but he insists that he has a good enough palette to know what's good and what's bad." Akira let out a deep sigh. "I keep saying that I'm going to kill that cat one day but I'm afraid that he might not give me a chance at this rate."

Ryuji grinned. "Sounds like you got your hands full." He scuffled his feet up against the ground, looking around at the starry night. Finally, after a few seconds of silence, he spoke again. "I'm not ready for the future man."

Akira smiled and looked up towards the night sky with him. "I don't think any of us are. We just kind of make it up as we go along and pretend that we know what we're doing. I know that's what I did when I oversaw the group."

Ryuji laughed a little, looking over to his best friend. "I always knew you were full of crap leadin' us around like that."

"I did the best that I could with what I was offered."

"I couldn't think of anyone better for the job, dude."

Akira returned his best friend's gaze and smiled. "Thanks. I appreciate it."

"No prob, man." Ryuji fished through his pockets and found his car keys. "Well, I gotta get goin'. Makoto wanted to study up some math crap and then go out for the ramen afterwards."

"You two sound like you're dating already. It's just that neither of you have decided to actually label it any differently than just being friends." Akira said plainly.

"Aw, shut it. We both know what it looks like, but I ain't riskin' a good thing over some feelings or whatever crap this is." Ryuji said before starting off towards his car.

"Oh, you'll go for it eventually. Trust me."

"Whatever man. You should be worryin' about your own crush, shouldn't ya?" Ryuji teased.

"And I'll get around to that sometime."

Ryuji rolled his eyes. "Yeah, sure you will." He opened up the driver's side door. "Well, I'll be seein' ya dude. Take care, alright?"

"Careful on your way back. I'll see you later sometime."

Ryuji smiled. "Sure thing! See ya!" And with that, he entered the car and closed the door. After a few attempts of getting the engine to turn over, the machine finally roared to life and he set off back towards Tokyo, honking his horn briefly to signal one last goodbye to his friend.

And then Akira found himself alone with his thoughts. Of course, what he decided to do next didn't require much thinking. He almost instinctively found himself going through his pockets and finding his phone. A brief second in his contacts found him what he was looking for as he dialed the number and put his phone up to his ear. After a few rings, the person on the other end picked it up.

"Hey Ann? Yeah, it's Akira. Listen, would you want to talk sometime?"

* * *

 **Hey all! Thanks for reading the latest chapter. I know this has been a long time coming (longer than I anticipated), but it's finally out. I'll be honest, between school and finding the proper motivation to get this chapter done, I was forcing myself to try and get this finished. Still, I'm trying my best to get back into the groove of things and I hope that the next chapter will not require as much time to get out. Until next time then!**

 **-CommanderGalen/Teach**


	7. What Goes Around Comes Around

_Y'know, people would say I look frustrated, tired, spent—all of the above, really. And y'know what? They'd be right._

"Ryuji!"

The boy heard his mother bellow from the kitchen for what was the fifth time this morning. He ended up working a later shift the night before at his part-time job, so he desperately searched for those precious few extra minutes of sleep. A fleeting feeling of desire to just be able to relax and let his brain turn off for a small amount of vacation time that, at least to himself, it deserved. Through being able to juggle his schoolwork, his social life, and his job, he had set a high bar for himself that was leaps and bounds above anything that he expected from himself before. And for that reason, he unconsciously begged towards his mother's aura, he just wanted those extra few minutes. Unfortunately, the torrent of wrath known as his mother had other plans in store for him.

Instead of testing his mother's patience any further, Ryuji chose to sit up with lazy eyes that longed for more time to rest, time that he knew that he didn't have. After a long yawn that could challenge a bear's roar, he planted his feet, one after the other, on the creaky wooden floor of his room. Guilt poured into him as he realized how much he had slacked off on cleaning his surroundings. Dirty and cleans clothes alike scattered the floor, yet Ryuji was able to tell which was which perfectly apart. He saw a Tekken poster pinned up on the wall in an oddball location. As much as he enjoyed the game, the poster hung there as a way to cover up a grim reminder of a time that his anger had gotten the better of him and, with great force, he punched a hole in the wall. Of course, this did nothing to bring him any satisfaction. As he saw it, he had damaged property that his mother had worked so hard to pay for. One day, he promised himself, he would go and buy Spackle to try and patch up the wall at least a little bit. That had been about a month and a half after Akira had left, he remembered.

A very loud groan of agitation escaped through the boy's lips. He decided he didn't have the time nor was he awake enough to dwell on the condition of his room any further. It was his Sunday and he was not about to have it start off on the wrong foot. Still, he considered how well last Sunday went—with his visit to Akira's hometown—and had already established that nothing today could bring would be near up to par. So, standing up and taking his phone off of the charger that accompanied his bedside, he exited his bedroom into the small hallway with slow and trudging steps.

Entering the kitchen, he saw his mother cooking up some eggs for the two of them. Ryuji knew that his mother did this out of choice and that she didn't have to go the extra mile for him. For that, he was appreciative. He would be dumb, however, to admit that he had thought of what it'd be like if she chose not to do this and if he was able to choose when he woke up on his own accord. Still, as annoying as this habit of hers was, Ryuji was still eternally grateful for what his mom chose to do for him.

She set a hot plate of eggs done over-easy in front of him with a similar plate being set down in front her spot before taking a seat. She set out some plastic forks for the two of them and, after saying quick prayers, they began eating.

"I have to go and work later today." Ryuji's mother said the first words of their breakfast conversation.

"Which place? That retail place or the diner?"

"Retail store." Ryuji watched as his mother nodded at him between bites of her eggs. "Some idiot quit and I'm picking up some overtime. It's a win-win." Ryuji agreed silently, something that his mother seemed to find out of character, but pressed on with her agenda. "I'm planning on doing some shopping after my shift is done. Do you need anything?"

"Nothin' I can't get myself. Don't worry about it ma."

"Now Ryuji," Ryuji felt his mother's gaze on him, but he didn't return it. "I don't want you spending money on things you know I can get for you. You should be saving that money for what you want to do and for your future."

"Ma, I can't let you go buyin' shit for me all the time. We're in a good spot right now and I even got my own job to worry `bout." Ryuji wore a proud smile as he said his last line, but it was quick to be replaced by a grimace that matched his mother's.

"Ryuji, I want you to listen to me: I am your mother. It is my responsibility to help and take care of you, alright? Besides, could you imagine me on a normal working schedule after what I've been through?" The woman leaned back in her chair, leaving the half-finished eggs with a fork pierced through them. "I wouldn't know what to do with myself."

Ryuji shrugged. "I dunno ma, you could try to have a normal adult life. Y'know, find a hobby or somethin' to keep ya entertained."

"This is something that keeps me entertained _and_ I earn money for us while doing so. I see no problem with that."

"Ma, you're workin' yourself for no good reason. I can take care of myself, alright?"

"Ryuji, what's wrong with me keeping multiple jobs? It keeps me active and entertained. There isn't a dull moment-"

Ryuji stood up and slammed his hand down on the table, his emotions finally getting the better of him and surging towards the surface. "Ma, this ain't entertainment! You're workin' yourself to death!"

The boy's mother leaned forward. "Why are you getting so upset? I'm doing this out of my own volition, you know that right?"

"I don't care mom!" Ryuji was just as surprised as his mother when he called her _mom_ instead of his typical _ma._ He went forward with his argument, tears beginning to well in his eyes. "You're killin' yourself for no good reason! I don't wanna look at you ten years from now and see some broken down woman that can't fuckin' move!" Ryuji looked down at the eggs before him, and then to the kitchen floor. Instead of holding in his frustration and letting it well up like he usually would, he found himself crying. The boy was actually crying for once and letting his true emotional self be seen. However, all he could feel was disgust over himself lashing out at his mother. Through haggard breaths, he continued. "I don't want you to…to worry `bout a mistake like me. I just want ya to be happy, mom."

The word rang through to the boy's core. _Mistake. Yeah, that's what ya are, alright. Dad didn't want nothin' to do with ya. Ma works her ass off for ya to freeload. Ya can't even make it through high school without people's help. God, what the fuck_ _ **can**_ _you actually do?_ These doubts bounced around Ryuji's head, making the world seem to speed up around him. He saw images of being left behind to fend for himself, his mother wanting nothing to do with him, his 'friends' laughing at him, but out of all of these thoughts, he found one that haunted him the most: he saw himself alone.

 _I deserve it._ Ryuji grabbed his head tight. _I deserve whatever happens to me._

A slap to his face brought him to his senses. His mouth was agape, and out of the corner of his eyes he could see his mother with tears welling up in her eyes.

"Ryuji, I don't _ever_ want to hear you say those words again." The usually strong-standing woman had to choke back some tears to keep the best confident tone she could muster. "Do you understand me?"

"Ma, I-"

"Do you _understand_ me?!" Ryuji was taken aback by his mother's sudden crescendo. "I thought that Kurusu boy helped you through this when your group started hanging out together. Now I'm not sure what the hell is bringing this all back, but let me get one thing clear for you: _you are not a mistake._ "

Ryuji didn't say anything else in response. He stood there absentmindedly rubbing his cheek where his mother had slapped him. He didn't cry and he wasn't angry. For a moment, he just felt like he existed, nothing more or nothing less. The boy watched his mother go gather her purse and watched her mouth move as if she had continued talking, although he heard no words. A vibration in his pocket tingled throughout his left leg, but he didn't bother to check who it was texting him. Sound again became a sense to him when his mother had finally left the apartment, but to his dismay, the only sound that accompanied him was the sound of silence.

 _You fuckin' idiot._ He backed up and leaned against the wall, sliding down it before curling up into a ball. Ryuji could only crack a smile through the tears that he was shedding. He wasn't sure what else his mother had said, but he had decided not to care. The only thing that mattered to him were those last few words he heard.

 _I ain't a mistake, huh? Idiot…stop wearin' that damn chip on your shoulder._

* * *

"Look, all I'm saying is that the characters were total garbage to back up a so-so plot, alright?" Futaba looked up at her boyfriend who towered her by at least a foot.

"Darling, I cannot disagree more. The characters, if viewed as tools, filled their roles quite elegantly. Not to mention the aesthetics of the film were absolutely marvelous!" Yusuke finished with a flourish of his arms. "I can only envy the director for his vision and what he was able to bring to life!"

Futaba looked back at him with a stern face. "This is what I get for datin' an artist, huh?"

The blue-haired boy let out a chuckle before placing his arms back down by his sides. "You must have acquired a taste for it. Was it not _you_ who asked-" Yusuke was cut off with a swift elbow to his side, causing him to gasp his breath.

The duo, along with their three amigos Ann, Haru, and Makoto, had all just finished up watching a movie. Even before exiting the theater, the three bystanders had to deal with the two almost immediately start bickering with each other as soon as the film had ended. Now even in the bustling streets of Shibuya, the two continued.

"Yeesh, these two." Ann, who had been walking in the middle of the group of five, said whilst placing her hand to her head in a gesture of irritation.

"I still find it hard to believe that they're dating." Makoto sighed.

"It's kind of cute in its own way, don't you think?" Haru couldn't help but try to stifle a giggle.

"You almost want to feel sorry for the guy when he looks like this though, wouldn't you say?" Makoto did a much better job at masking a laugh behind her speech.

Ann, although a tad worried that that was her friend's inner sadist breaking through, shook her head. "So is he going to be okay or...?"

Futaba gave them a triumphant look and nodded her head. "He'll be fine. He'll have to be if plans on surviving this!" She pointed to herself proudly.

Yusuke was able to stand up straight and regain his composure as she had finished up her sentence. "Futaba, I was able to conquer palaces and face endless hordes of shadows alongside my friends. What on earth makes you think I would not be able to handle you?"

Futaba adorned a devilish grin as she signaled the much taller boy to lean down to her level, allowing her to whisper in his ear. "I want you to keep in mind: you weren't _sleeping_ with those shadows, now were you?"

Yusuke's face went a ghostly pale with wide eyes. He looked over to his girlfriend who still wore that face of pure demonic pleasure. He could only stutter out sounds as he tried to turn his head towards his other three friends in an effort to plead, something Futaba wasn't about to allow as she grabbed his arm and began dragging him away.

"Me and pretty-boy here got some things to resolve. Catch y'all later!" Soon, the three girls were left to themselves as they watched their friends round the corner down to the train station.

"So," Ann began. "We all know what that was probably about, right?"

"Yes, and I'd like to motion a movement forward in the conversation before I get any unwanted imagery in my head please." Makoto closed her eyes and rubbed them.

"Seconded." Haru was quick to follow-up.

"Gotcha, moving on." Ann tapped her foot and looked around at the buildings surrounding. She tried her best, along with the other girls, to not let it bother her that two of her friends basically ditched the rest of them just to go hump like rabbits. In an attempt to do so, she spotted the restaurant that they frequented. "How about that diner? I'm feeling kind of hungry."

Haru nodded. "I could go for something to eat myself."

"I'll just settle for some tea if we're going." Makoto stated hesitantly. Ann turned to her with a wry smirk. "What's that look for?"

"Oh, nothing. Just saving up some space for your date with Ryuji, huh?" Ann couldn't resist teasing her when an opportunity came. There was a lot of things that the former student council president could outclass her on, but this was where Ann shined. And apparently, that remained to be true as Makoto could only respond with a look of shock at first with Haru following up with an innocent giggle.

Makoto was able to stabilize herself before pressing forward. "Ann, how many times do I have to say it: Ryuji and I are just friends. Nothing more." _Nothing more, huh?_ Those words stung her to say, but alas they were true.

"Ugh, whatever you say." Ann said with some disgust in her voice. Despite her best efforts, she could not get the two to realize their feelings for each other. She never saw it fit to tell them either, mostly because she didn't believe it to be her place to interfere in matters of the heart anymore. Ann and the others had all dealt with that change of heart stuff before and, even if it did lead to them ultimately saving the world, she couldn't help but feel like she wanted to put that all behind her. So when she became aware of her friends' feelings for each other, Ann made it clear for herself that she would only just try and drop subtle hints instead of outright telling them.

 _Although in this case,_ she remarked in her head, _even hitting them over the head with a fucking frying pan might be too subtle._

Both girls' train of thought was cut off by Haru, who just thought of something. "Oh yeah, where is Ryuji anyways? Did he ever respond to the group text?"

All three girls looked around at each other with looks of confusion before Makoto spoke up. "Um, I'm not sure."

"Yeah, me neither." Ann tacked on before all three girls dug through their jacket pockets to grab their phones almost in perfect unison. Upon all checking their text messages, Ann shook her head. "Nope. Last one in our group chat was Futaba when she told us her and Yusuke would probably be running late."

"Isn't this strange behavior of him?" Haru asked. "Usually he'd say something if he would be unable to join us."

"I know." Ann sounded defeated. "The idiot is making me worry." She looked around from her left to right before her eyes settle on Makoto who was still looking at her phone. "Hey, Makoto?"

Makoto jumped in surprise at her name being said, although quickly regaining her composure. "What is it Ann?"

"Uh, did you get anything from Ryuji?" Ann pointed at Makoto's phone, but the girl shook her head in response.

"I apologize, my sister just texted me asking to come on home early. I was about to explain to her the situation but I doubt she'd listen." Makoto said somewhat disappointedly.

"What did she need you home for?" Haru questioned.

"Hm? Oh, she wants my help in practicing examining files for a case that she's working on. Ever since I explained to her that I wanted to be a lawyer like her, she has been much more open in her work life than ever before." Makoto explained.

"Sheesh, you can't just take a break for once, can you?" Ann said with a slight smile, one that Makoto mirrored.

"What can I say? Old habits-"

"Die hard? Yeah, Ryuji told me about that one." Ann completed her thought for her, although Makoto found herself kind of caught off-guard by her friend's sudden interruption. "You should probably get going though. Sounds like it must be a pretty important case if she wants you home this early."

Makoto nodded her head. "I suppose you're right. I apologize, but I'll make it up to you guys some other time, alright?"

"Christmas is only a month away anyways." Haru said with a smile. "I'm sure we'll have everyone together by then."

Makoto smiled once again. "Definitely." The girl then turned away from her friends and began to walk away, waving and saying "Goodbye!" one last time.

Haru and Ann stood and watched their friend make her way to the station steps. As snow began to fall, Haru watched on in curiosity when she thought of something that she saw to be strange.

"That's odd." She turned to Ann.

"What is it?"

"Does Makoto usually take that line to go home?"

Ann smiled and shook her head. "No, no she does not."

* * *

 **So, guess who can't decide if he wants the story to continue after the big ol' romantic reveal or not? I do have plans to perhaps write a couple of one-offs that connect to this that explain how Yusuke and Futaba's relationship came to be along with Akira and Ann's. Also, while I'm thinking about it, yes, I'm sticking with Akira in regards to this fic and anything connected to it. It isn't because I hate the official name (I like Ren just fine), it's just that having to go back and trying to change every instance of his name would be time-consuming and I hardly have any time to write as it is. Anywho, hope everyone enjoys the chapter!**


	8. Purpose

Steel clashing against steel. The sound resonated throughout the dimly lit corridors of the station, jolting Makoto out of her own thoughts. The clattering of the train was the only thing keeping Makoto in her right senses, not allowing her mind to have a chance to wander off into its own world to mull over the details of her friend's text message. She needed to make sure that she was paying attention to the announcements for the stops. Luckily all the seats were taken so she was forced to stand otherwise, she mused, she truly would have lulled off into her own dreamland of thoughts.

 _Still,_ Makoto thought, _I'm unsure as to how to feel about the tone of that message. 'I need you to come over to my place as soon as possible.' And it was sent three hours ago as well._ She shook her head, her facial expression unchanging in its adamant and stern look. _Damn you Ryuji, you better not have done anything too reckless._

Another loud clack on the tracks got her out of her thoughts again. It was most likely for the best. She decided that anymore stressing out over the situation would just make it all worse in the long run for both her and Ryuji. How would she be able to help her friend if she was a giant ball of nerves herself?

 _Another question for another lifetime._ Makoto closed her eyes and gripped the handle she was hanging onto tighter, willing the train to pick up its speed before she lost her mind.

* * *

Perhaps it was just the time of day—Makoto had reached Ryuji's apartment building at what she assumed to be sometime around six in the evening due to the moon's presence overcoming the sun—but she was unsettled by just how quiet the building was. The sound of the floor creaking with every step she took was the only thing that seemed to fill the empty void of silence. She wouldn't describe it to be a nice building either. It had a working elevator, but that was just about where the good qualities ended. There were patches of the walls in the hallway that were just completely missing, revealing dens for all sorts of creatures to call their home. Decorations were attempted at one point in time, as she saw a small table with a vase on it that held wilted flowers. How long they had been there, Makoto could only imagine.

Door after door passed her vision, as she looked for her magic number. "Thirty-seven." Makoto kept mumbling to herself, thinking back to what else the boy had included in his text message. She had never been to Ryuji's place before and any time that she tried to inquire more about his home life, he always looked uncomfortable, so she would always then attempt to veer the discussion in a different direction. With how run down the complex looked, Makoto couldn't exactly blame the boy for wanting to avoid both the topic and bringing anyone over. She wasn't even sure if he had ever had any friends over in his whole life.

Then, she stopped. Makoto stood in front of the door that was numbered thirty-six, but looked onwards at the door numbered thirty-seven, slightly agape, tattered, and with many more scars it wore from years of wear-and-tear. What those scars signified, Makoto didn't want to know. With each footstep towards the door, Makoto found herself, oddly enough, shaking with what she thought to be a mixture of fear and anticipation.

Makoto rapped a few weak knocks on the door, pushing it further inwards. She leaned her head in and, remaining vigilant, let out a soft "Hello?" A few moments passed and, slightly more agitated, the girl scowled and opened the door wider for her to stand up straight in the doorway. In a much more boisterous tone, Makoto belted out "Ryuji?! Are you in here?!"

A few more moments passed and Makoto let out a huff of annoyance. She proceeded ever-so cautiously forward into the front room of the apartment, although it seemed to just be the family's living room. That's what she could guess from the worn-down couch and the depressed lounge chair, with a smaller-than-average television standing on a small table in front of the furniture. A coffee table sat between them, covered with what appeared to be lottery tickets and a single book of crossword puzzles with a page dogeared in the top corner of the book, probably to remember where the person had left off. Makoto saw no trace of Ryuji in the room, so she went deeper into the apartment.

Entering the kitchen and dining area, the first thing Makoto couldn't help but notice was the obvious hole in the wall just before the cabinets and the counter. It appeared to be slightly higher than someone of her or Ryuji's height could reach, so she could only assume that this was caused by someone other than the boy, which she was relieved of. The boy, for some reason, seemed to be having a relapse with his anger issues despite the girl's best efforts to dissuade the behavior.

"Still," Makoto said to herself. "None of this really helps me figure out where he might've gone." Makoto, a hand to her chin pondering, looked over to her right through the empty doorway to discover a small hall. At the end of this hall, despite the lighting not being the greatest, she saw two doors that she could only assume were the bedrooms. And if she had to take a much less wild guess, she would say that the door that was a bit more bruised and battered was Ryuji's. Although she knew she was more than likely correct, Makoto still frowned at the thought of her friend's anger issues.

"Ryuji?" Makoto called out once again. "Are you in your room?" Makoto proceeded to walk down the hall, although a bit more slowly. "I got your text telling me to come over. Sorry I didn't get here until now; I was at a movie with the others."

Although she kept speaking, Makoto wasn't sure if anyone was actually listening. That is, until she heard a small, masculine groan come from the behind the beaten door.

"Ryuji?" Makoto said once more, although much more confidently. "Are you alright?" As she asked him the question, she reached the door. Unfortunately, the only response she got back was silence. Makoto's heartfelt veil was wearing thin, the scowl she wore earlier once again making its way to the surface. "Ryuji, I need you to answer me. If you don't, I'm going to be upset that you wasted my time by having me come down here for nothing."

"Hm?" Ryuji responded from behind the door. "Sorry Makoto, I didn't even hear ya say anything `til just a second ago."

Makoto noted that the boy sounded much weaker than normal—frail, even. "It's alright." Makoto breathed in and out slowly one time before proceeding with her next few words. "Is it alright if I come in?"

On the other side, Ryuji was hesitant. There he was, looking pathetic as ever and he was supposed to believe that people cared for him? That he wasn't just some mistake? _That word. Fucking hell, that word._ "I dunno Makoto, maybe this was a bad idea." He was doing his best to sound like his normal self.

Makoto wasn't buying any of it. "Ryuji, you said you wanted to speak with me, correct?"

"Yeah, I did…" Ryuji trailed off.

"And I'm assuming you were the one that left the door cracked for me to get in, yes?"

"Suppose I did."

"Well I'm not going to continue this through a door, so I need you to make up your mind." Makoto stood in front of the door with her eyes staring intently ahead. "Let me in, you come out, or I leave: the choice is yours.'

Ryuji shook his head to himself. He wanted to tell her to go away and to stop wasting time on a mistake like him. But for the life of him, he was afraid of being by himself at that moment. His mother wouldn't be back until late into the next morning anyways from working overtime at the job and, so he was afraid to think, a lot could happen between now and that time.

"Come in." Ryuji said, lowering his voice while doing so.

Makoto grabbed the knob and turned it slowly, pushing on the door as she did. She took in the sight before her, noting that the boy's room was much cleaner than she expected, but still dirtier than she had hoped. It didn't distract her, however, from the boy sitting up against the wall on his bed, one leg sprawled out and the other bent up with his arm resting on it.

"Welcome to my humble abode that you've been dyin' to know about." Ryuji said with a very sarcastic tone. "To your left you'll fine ye old pile of laundry and to your right the joke of the town! Enjoy your stay."

Makoto would giggle, but something seemed off in the way that the boy spoke. She couldn't pin it down, but it just didn't seem to be the usual him. Regardless, she approached the bed and set her purse down beside it. "May I?" She received a couple of pats on the bed as a response from Ryuji, taking that as her queue to climb on the bed and sit down next to the boy.

"You finally ended up makin' your way over, huh?" Ryuji asked. "I didn't know if you were actually gonna come or not."

"What would make you think that?" Makoto questioned the boy.

"Usually ya respond pretty quickly." Ryuji answered. "I figured ya finally got fed up with my crap."

Makoto furrowed her brows. "Ryuji, what's wrong with you?"

"Sorry, didn't mean to upset ya." Ryuji held up his hands in defense. "That sounded pretty damn rude on my part."

Makoto decided to move on before she became angry with the boy. "Why did you want me to come here?"

Ryuji shrugged. "I'm not really sure myself."

"You're lying to me." Makoto stated confidently. "You've been wanting me to avoid this place like the plague. Now of all times you want me to come over just out of the blue?" She paused, thinking over how her sister would question someone before going with the simple answer. "Now tell me, why did you want me to come over here?"

Ryuji sighed while closing his eyes. He then cracked a fake smile and turned to the girl. "Damn shame that ya decided not to be a cop. You'd be great at interrogatin' people."

For an answer, the boy received nothing but silence and the same stern stare. It was unwavering and, for Ryuji, it felt like it would rest on him forever. That pensive stare never gave in and, after a few more moments, the boy couldn't stand it anymore and finally caved.

"Makoto, I've been wonderin' lately if I'm just goin' through the motions of life. Like, do I really have any dreams or drive that I'm workin' towards? Or am I just doin' the crap I do `cause that's just the thing to do? And if that's the reason for me doin' the crap I do, is it really a good reason to keep on goin'?" Ryuji looked down at his lap and shook his head. "I feel like I'm wastin' my time and everybody else's with this crap. There ain't no passion keepin' me goin' and there certainly ain't anything for a punk like me to aspire towards. People like you and Ma keep on tellin' me to get that chip off my shoulder, but I dunno if I can really move past it. I think I keep it there to remind me not to get ahead of myself."

Makoto curled her legs up and wrapped her arms around them, tilting her head as she looked at Ryuji. "Why do you do that?"

Ryuji, after thinking about it for a second, shrugged and looked at Makoto with a straight face. "I dunno. The whole idea that I'm a mistake puts me in check, I guess."

"Ryuji, you're not a mistake."

Ryuji looked back ahead of him at the wall on the opposite side. "I know."

Makoto, admittedly caught off-guard by the response, looked at him puzzled. "Um, ok. That's good. But, why tell me all of that then?"

"`Cause I guess I'm tired of hidin' all the emotions and crap that I keep bottled up." Ryuji admitted. "Earlier before I texted you, I had a fuckin' breakdown. I was curled up, sobbin' like a little kid `cause I couldn't get past the thought of my own mother actually lovin' me. For some reason I always kept a thought in the back of my head that she was just doin' this outta some type of obligation and that she'd dump my ass on the street as soon as I was a legal adult." He felt tears begin to well up in his eyes. "I had it deep in my mind that my Ma didn't love me, Makoto. I mean, how fuckin' pathetic am I?"

Makoto bit her lip, unsure of what to say. She'll admit that she'd never seen Ryuji in quite this vulnerable of a state and due to that, she wasn't exactly sure how to proceed. She decided that doing so with caution would be her best bet. "So, what you're telling me is that you're going through some sort of crisis with yourself?"

"Yeah, kinda." Ryuji nodded without looking at the girl. After a few moments of silence, he shook his head angrily, knocking a few tears out to let them stream down his face. "Dammit, no that ain't really what's goin' on."

Makoto raised her eyebrows before asking, "Then what is it?"

"I'm not havin' an identity crisis or anything like that." Ryuji sighed, wiping away at his now shining cheeks. "I'm just, I dunno, scared?"

"Because of what happened earlier?" Makoto asked, earning a grunt of confirmation from Ryuji. "Why would you be scared?"

"`Cause I have no idea what to think anymore. Ain't the unknown s`posed to be the greatest fear for us or somethin'?" Ryuji closed his eyes and tried to calm himself down, breathing in slowly in and out. "I just needed someone here with me, Makoto."

Makoto sat up and shifted her whole body to face the boy, slightly pushing up against the pillows at the head of his bed. "You're afraid because you think that you don't know anything anymore?" She made a mental note in the back of her head that this was pretty close to an identity crisis, but decided not to bring it up.

"Exactly. I've been livin' my life thinkin' that I'm just some punk. I was thinkin' that I'm just some idiot that even a deadbeat dad wouldn't want." Ryuji threw up his hands in defeat. "Have I seriously wasted all this time thinkin' this crap? I've used up my life so far thinkin' that I owe it back to my Ma for bein' such a shitty kid, but she never thought of that even once. So if I don't even know how to live my life anymore, then what the hell do I really know? Do I just go grab Ma's gun and make it easy for everyone or do I keep on-"

"Don't you fucking _dare_ think about killing yourself!" Makoto was up on her knees and in the boy's face almost instantly, grabbing him by his shirt collar.

Ryuji's eyes went wide. "Holy shit, Makoto! For real?!"

"No! Shut up!" Makoto yelled at the boy, although he saw tears of her own begin to well up. "Don't you dare go and kill yourself after all that you've been through!" She let go of his collar and leaned back. "You've survived abuse your entire life! Don't go taking that way out after everything's stopped! Now that nobody is bothering you is when you decide you want to kill yourself?! No way!" Makoto wiped away at her tears, trying to keep her angry composure. "So what if you can't figure out what to do now? You'll make it through like all the times that you did before! And if you can't figure out what to do, then I'll be there to help you!"

Ryuji and Makoto just stared at each other. Makoto sat back against the pillows while Ryuji looked on awestruck. After a few seconds, it just hit Makoto what she just said and an instant red blush came forth.

"Um, I meant _we'll_ be there—the group, that is." Makoto looked away from the boy.

"Oh, uh, yeah. Totally, totally. I got ya." Ryuji scratched the back of his head.

There they sat in silence, Makoto was sitting on the edge of the bed now, wondering why the hell she just said what she did. Ryuji was still sitting up against the wall, wondering the exact same thing.

"Um," Makoto began. "Sorry for making the atmosphere so…awkward, I guess."

"No, it's fine, it's fine. What you said is true anyways." Ryuji nodded at the girl. "If I decided to just end it all here, then what was the point of all those years of sufferin'? Besides, I got you guys!" Ryuji perked up a small smile. "I can always count on ya!"

Makoto returned the smile. It was a comforting sight for her to see him so happy. "I'm glad I could help." Makoto stood up and straightened out her jacket. "Well, I don't want to stay too long and make things terribly awkward between us, so I'll just-"

"Wait, Makoto?" Ryuji held up a hand.

"Yes?"

"Uh, if it ain't too much trouble to ya, could ya stay a bit longer?" Ryuji felt himself blush asking, looking away from the girl as he did. "We don't even have to talk. I just want someone around is all. I mean, you don't gotta if you don't wanna, I figured I would just offer to let ya stay a while since it was cold and all-"

"I'd be delighted to stay." Makoto interrupted Ryuji, sparing him any more wasted breath.

"Oh. Uh, awesome!" Ryuji said while letting a toothy smile show. "We don't gotta stay in here the whole time if you don't wanna."

"Here's fine, Ryuji. Don't worry." Makoto climbed back onto the bed and sat right next to the boy. "I'm here for you."

Ryuji smiled, although a bit more reserved with a tint of red still encompassing his face. "Um, thanks Makoto." After a pause of silence, the boy spoke up again. "Hey Makoto?"

"Yes Ryuji?"

"I meant what I said earlier. You'd make a damn great cop."

Makoto smiled. "Thanks Ryuji."

* * *

"Oh my goodness, I'm so happy for you Ann!"

"Shhhh!" Ann hushed at the girl seated across from her. "Not so loud!"

Haru covered her mouth. "Sorry! I just didn't expect that of all things! You and Akira together?!"

Ann gritted her teeth, although not too roughly. "Listen, I don't even know if that's what he wants. He just said that he wanted to talk to me when he came down here for Christmas."

Haru leaned forward and laid her arms atop one another on the table. "Well I definitely already see you two as a happy couple!"

Ann leaned back and held her head in one of her hands. "Ugh, why did I think telling you was a good idea?"

"It isn't like I'm going to tell anyone!" Haru was adamant. "I know you want to keep this all a secret, so I promise I won't say a thing."

"Promise?" Ann held up a hesitant pinky finger, something that Haru almost instantly reached out for with her own.

"Promise!"

* * *

 **Thanks to everyone for reading this chapter! I know that I don't respond to many of the reviews or talk to anyone that much, but I just want to say that I do read every single one and I'm happy that everyone is enjoying the story so far. This chapter hit a little close to home as I've dealt with trying to find a reason to keep going before. Ultimately, the answer is to keep going for yourself. You deserve to live and, for anyone who is struggling with the same problems that I went through, reach out to someone and just talk to them about your problems. You'll find that there are people who are willing to listen and give helpful advice. Remember that even life's easiest problems don't have the simplest answers. Just keep going and I promise you'll find your way.**

 **Anyhow, thanks again for reading and I'll be back soon (hopefully) with the next chapter!**


	9. Find Your Way

_Ugh, this is harder to read than I thought it'd be._

Akira sat his book to the side and took his glasses off so his fingers could gain easy access to his eyes, rubbing them gently. When he looked up out the window of his bus, he saw that they had been traveling long enough for darkness to fade away and for light to dominate the land once again. It was a week before Christmas and he was making his migration towards Tokyo to see his friends once again. He wasn't planning on going up there this early and, had he known that he would be doing so, he would've given his friends proper notice. However, it seems that the shuttle system was going to be on break starting tomorrow until the twenty-sixth. Apparently maintenance was being done to the buses and Japan was also looking to give the drivers a proper vacation. Akira understood, but he didn't hear about this until two days ago. And so here he found himself, on the bus with his cat that chastised him for not paying more attention, claiming that his "phantom reflexes" weren't looking too keen.

 _Morgana…_ the boy thought. Akira sighed heavily, something that caught his feline friend's attention.

"What's wrong, Akira?" Morgana, escaping from the bag, asked quietly whilst climbing up on his friend's shoulder.

Akira reached up to rub his friend on the back, scratching gently and smiling as he felt claws begin to slightly make their way into his jacket. His smile then faded away, realizing that if he was going to tell Morgana about this, it would be before rather than after everything had already happened.

"Listen, Morgana." Morgana turned his head inquisitively to his friend, who looked down at the floor of the bus as he spoke. "There's something that you really need to know, alright?"

"Well, what is it?"

Akira let out a large puff of air. "Alright, so here's the thing: there is a good chance that by the end of this trip that we're making that Ann and I will be…uh, you know, a 'thing.'"

Morgana cocked his head to the side. "You mean, like-"

"A couple, Morgana. There is a chance that Ann and I will be a couple by the end of this and I didn't want to tell you after all this had already happened. It was always fairly obvious that you were infatuated by her, so it just didn't ever feel right to date her when the opportunity presented itself. That on top of running the," Akira paused, looking around at the other passengers aboard the bus and confirming that most of them were asleep or had headphones in before turning back to his furry friend. "Sorry, that on top of running the Phantom Thieves was just a whole mess that I didn't want to deal with at the time."

Morgana, although a little shocked, wasn't angry. Although, his curiosity seemed to get the better of him. "Why did you keep this away from me for so long?"

Akira turned his head towards his friend. "You want me to be honest?" Morgana nodded adamantly at him. "It's because I saw how you acted over how 'worthless' you thought you were. If that's how you reacted when it was just your head getting the better of you then I had no reason to try and press any further. I was afraid how you'd react if Ann and I did start dating." Akira put his hand on Morgana's back to scratch it, something Morgana accepted again. "I was worried about not just our group, but for your health as well. I didn't something else causing a divide like that ever again. No relationship is worth that much."

Morgana pawed at his hand to swat it away, making Akira turn to him. "And yet we're still here now."

Akira leaned back, careful not to do so too hastily to knock his friend off-balance. "Yeah, I guess so. These are just feelings that I can't hold back forever. And I'm sorry that it's come to this point.

Morgana hopped down from his perch atop his friend's shoulder and hopped in his lap, looking straight up at him. "Akira, you're a good guy, you know that?" He saw instantly that Akira was confused. "Only a good person would apologize over something that makes them so human."

"What do you mean?"

"Listen, I know what I've said about Lady Ann in the past and I'm glad that you were thoughtful about that. And if I'm really being honest, it still hurts to hear about this happening." Morgana looked down, but immediately shook his head and turned it back up towards his friend. "But let's be honest with ourselves: there wasn't ever really a chance for me to be with Lady Ann. I'm not fully sure if I'll ever really turn into a human at this point or not, but even if that were the case, I'm sure that Lady Ann still wouldn't consider me to be anything more than a friend. That's just something that I had to come to terms with a long time ago." Morgana wrapped his tail around his front paws, showing a bit of defense in his attitude.

Akira frowned, upset to see his friend like this. "Morgana, come on. I'm sure that she would've at least given you a chance."

"I think that's both of us being a little too wishful, Akira." Morgana confessed. "If this was what decided the fate of our friendship, then it wouldn't be one that's worth keeping. Besides, it makes me happy to know that even if I don't end up with her, that she'll be with one of the best people that I know!"

Akira felt a tear begin to form in one of his eyes and reached up to rub it away, a smile taking full form along with it. "Ugh, damn cat. You always get me worked up when it really matters."

Morgana smiled. "Hey, don't go and bawl your eyes out now! You have to save that for when you meet up with all your friends again!"

Upon hearing that, Akira felt like he just got hit by a freight train when he realized something very important: he never notified anyone that he was going to be there today.

"Crap." Akira quickly fumbled through his pocket to find his phone, Morgana quizzically looking on as he hopped off his lap. Akira brought up his contacts and scrolled through them "Crap crap crap."

"What's wrong?"

"I forgot to tell them I was coming down today."

Morgana's eyes closed slightly in disappointment. "How did you manage to run a criminal enterprise for so long?"

"Shh." Akira held up a finger to his lips as he placed his phone up to his ear, waiting three rings before it was picked up and he received a groggy reply.

"Hello?" Ryuji tiredly asked through the phone.

"Hey Ryuji."

Ryuji, unaware that it was his best friend that called him, sat up and scrambled himself into a somewhat comfortable position. "Akira? C'mon man, why are you callin' this early?"

"It's ten."

"I stand by what I said."

Akira grabbed the bridge of his nose in annoyance. "Do you think you can come and meet me at the bus station?"

Ryuji scratched his head, leaning up against the wall that his bed sat adjacent to. "Sure thing bud. What day and what time?"

Akira rubbed his neck uncomfortably. "Uh, today and-"

"Whatddya mean 'today!?'" Ryuji instantly shot up to the edge of his bed.

"Look, I didn't exactly expect to come up here this early either." Akira defended. "Can you come and meet me or not?"

Ryuji sighed and stood up. "I mean, yeah. When do ya think you're gonna be there?"

"A little over half an hour, give or take." Akira decided after mulling over it.

"Well, that gives me time for a shower, at least." Ryuji said, although a hint of sourness was in his voice. "Damn though, what gives? Usually you're better at this kinda crap."

"Don't even get me started- look, just be there before eleven is all I ask. I don't want to be freezing this whole time."

Ryuji, his devious subconscious working away at how he could turn this to work in his favor, snapped when it finally hit him. "Hey, ya wanna know how ya can make this up to me?"

 _Oh no_ was all that Akira could think before letting out a small groan. "What do you want?"

"Well guess who forgot to do shoppin' for Christmas this year?" Ryuji exclaimed with a proud and goofy smile on his face. "And guess who gets to accompany his best friend in the whole wide wo-"

"I get it, Ryuji." Akira said. "I'll help you shop."

"Thanks bud. Knew I could always count on ya!"

"Yeah, okay. I take it you're going to be in your mom's car?"

Ryuji nodded, although realizing immediately that his friend couldn't see it. "Yep. I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Alright. Thanks Ryuji."

"No problem, man. And thank _you_ for helping me-" Ryuji found himself cut short by silence. He looked at the screen and saw that his friend had hung up on him. Ryuji gave himself a congratulatory pat on the back and chuckled before opening the door and making his way down the hall where he saw his mom in the kitchen. He poked his head in and said "Hey, I gotta go pick up Akira in a little bit. Mind if I take the clunker?"

His mother, much happier since the boy had gotten whatever the problem was cleared up, nodded. "Just be back before five, alright? I have to work at six."

"Alright. Thanks ma! Love ya!" Ryuji turned around and headed back down the hall and into the bathroom to shower.

* * *

Snow poured down from above, accompanying the hustle and bustle of the Shibuya patrons who dared brave the cold weather. The windows of local shops were beginning to fog up and passersby were resorting to taking refuge in the warm stores, realizing that even their winter attire was not enough to keep them from becoming chilled. Some kept to their pace however, going strong against the cold harsh winds. Amongst the crowd were two boys who, regretfully, were doing some last-minute Christmas shopping.

"This is so stupid. Why are we this dumb?" Ryuji turned to his friend, looking to find some sort of answer to his rhetorical question.

Akira shook his head. "Don't look at me. My brain is focused on not freezing my butt off, thank you." Ryuji spat and turned his back, facing forward against the cool air once again.

"Tch. Can't believe we forgot and we gotta go shoppin' instead of just hangin' around Leblanc's." Ryuji cursed himself once again. "This is so _stupid._ "

"Wait, why are you dragging me into the blame? I _did_ all of my shopping before I came here!" Akira hurried ahead slightly of his friend so he could turn around and confront him, keeping a steady backtrack while doing so. "I only came with you because I felt sorry for you."

"I dunno why you feel that way. I sure as hell wouldn't have frozen my ass off if you forgot to do your shoppin'." Ryuji saw Akira shoot him an awry expression, an eyebrow cocked with his lips curling into a slight frown. "What?"

Akira sighed and turned around, shaking his head and continuing onward. "Unbelievable." He could feel his bag rustle around a little bit, a certain someone kicking around inside it. "You told me you didn't want to come out until we got someplace warm." The boy reached down to his bag and undid the clips on it, having Morgana pop his head out, gasping for fresh air.

"Jeez, do you _know_ how stuffy it gets in there?" Morgana turned his head and said to his friend. "I felt like I was on my last life!"

"Sheesh, you're as noisy as ever." Ryuji said smugly.

"And _you're_ as stupid as ever!" Morgana glared at the boy. "Why do you intend to do your Christmas shopping so late?"

"It ain't about what I 'intend' to do, alright?! Sometimes I just forget, y'know?!"

"Ryuji, remember, you're arguing with a _cat._ " Akira hinted heavily to get his friend to stop yelling at Morgana when they're out in public. "I know it's been a while, but please—and this goes for the both of you—try to keep the arguing to a minimum. I would like to at least get through Christmas before you both start killing each other again."

Both turned their heads away from each other and let out an annoyed grunt in unison. Akira sighed and turned his focus towards his faux-blonde compatriot. "So is there any way you could clue me in as to where on earth we're actually going?"

Ryuji looked at him with a confused expression. "Huh?"

"Ryuji, I swear if you're telling me we've been walking in the cold for fifteen minutes just to be going nowhere I am going to-"

"I'm kiddin' man, I'm kiddin!" Ryuji shook his friend off. _Well, mostly anyways._ "Look, bottom line is that Yusuke wants art crap, Futaba wants tech stuff, Haru want some gardenin' shit, and Ann probably wants some beauty stuff. It ain't exactly that hard to shop for you guys."

"You didn't even mention me." Akira wasn't amused by his friend's 'joke.'

"Why the hell would I tell ya what you're gettin' for Christmas?" Ryuji asked honestly.

"Touché. Okay, then what about Makoto?"

Ryuji stopped dead in his tracks and thought about it for a few moments. "Huh. I have no idea."

"You two have been hanging out all the time. You can't just stand there and tell me you have no idea what to get her." Akira folded his arms.

"I dunno man!" Ryuji held up his hands in defense. "It ain't exactly simple to be shoppin' for her, alright?"

"Oh, are you two a couple now?" Akira scoffed a little before letting his friend get a chance to respond. "What am I saying? You guys have been a couple for _months_ now."

"Har har." Ryuji responded, rolling his eyes. "And no, we ain't a couple. I've decided that I ain't gonna ruin a good thing just for some 'feelings' or whatever."

"Probably for the best. Makoto is too high class of a lady for someone like _you_ , Ryuji." Morgana teased the boy.

"What was that you damn-"

" _Cat_ , Ryuji. _Cat._ " Akira reminded him, causing him to simmer down a little. Morgana let out a smug meow which earned him a smack across the back of his head from Akira. "Anyways, then why is it so hard for you to shop for her then?"

Ryuji mulled over more ideas in his head. "I dunno man. It's just that fine line between not wantin' her to think too much of me and not havin' her think too little of me at the same time. She's a great girl and deserves somethin' to match that, but I don't want anything that could make her think that I want more, y'know?"

"No, Ryuji. I honestly can say that I _don't_ know." Akira shook his head. "You're really overthinking this. If you want her to just keep seeing you as a friend, just think about it like a friend would. It isn't rocket science."

Ryuji leaned up against a nearby light pole. "Eh, I s`pose you're right. I dunno man, ever since I had that talk with ya I've been on the fritz more than usual."

"I thought you talked to me so that _wouldn't_ happen." Akira shifted his stance and put his hands in his pockets. "What happened since then?"

Ryuji let out a deep sigh and turned his head towards the ground. "Look, it's freezin' and it's hard to explain so can we just let this slide or some-"

"Ryuji?" Both men turned their heads towards the feminine voice, Ryuji's eyes instantly going wide upon seeing Makoto, wearing her standard winter attire with her scarf almost covering her mouth. "Akira? I thought you weren't supposed to be here until the twenty-third."

"There was a change of plans. I forgot to tell all of you. Ryuji didn't even know until I called him to come pick me up today." Akira tacked on the last part after seeing her confused face when she looked at Ryuji.

Makoto turned her attention back towards Akira. "I see. Does Boss know that you're here today?" Akira and Ryuji looked at each other. "I'll take that as a no. What are you going to do if he isn't ready to take you in yet?"

"Pray that Ryuji's mom is a pleasant woman and lets me stay the night at their place." Akira answered honestly, causing Ryuji to don a grimace on his face. "Oh please, it isn't like it would be a big deal. I'm a delight."

Ryuji shook his head and smiled, letting out a small laugh alongside Makoto. "You cocky little shit."

"He certainly hasn't changed any since I last saw him." Akira matched Makoto's smile, and then something else occurred to her. "Wait, what are you two doing out in the shopping district? Didn't he just pick you up?"

Ryuji held out a hand to begin speaking. "Well, ya see, we-"

"This genius forgot to do his Christmas shopping and is dragging me and Morgana along with him." Akira pointed to the cat that wasn't there. He had recessed back into the inner workings of the bag, tired and unaware that Makoto had shown up.

Ryuji backed up and gently nudged his friend in the ribs with his elbow. "Thanks man."

"Anything I can do to help." Akira said with a wide grin.

"Oh yeah, Makoto." Ryuji started, gaining the girl's attention once again. "What are ya doin' out?"

"I had to drop a few things off at my university."

"Some assignments, I'm guessin'? They gotta keep ya busy." Ryuji said with a smile.

"Actually, um…" Makoto bit her lip and looked down, trailing off her sentence. "I handed in my withdrawal form to the university."

Akira and Ryuji's eyes went wide open, the latter boy's mouth also going agape. Akira regained his composure and adjusted his glasses, deciding to follow-up with a question. "Mind if I ask why you've decided to do that."

"Well, I thought about it some more and realized that my true passion lies in becoming a police officer, just like my father." Makoto said earnestly. "What my sister does is all fine and good, but I can't see myself in that setting for the rest of my life. I'm proud that she's worked so hard and done so much for her career, but I've just had a realization that it just isn't for me."

Ryuji breathed in deeply and closed his eyes. "So what did Sae have to say about you doin' that, huh?"

"She was supportive, although understandably upset about my decision. Sis just wants me to have a good future, so it was expected that she wouldn't be completely onboard with the idea right away. Still, she recognized that I was pursuing what I wanted to do and she realized that there wasn't a whole lot that she could do to stop me in my decision either, so she eventually came around to supporting my idea."

Ryuji put on a genuine smile for his friend. "That's freakin' awesome Makoto! I know you're gonna make one hell of a cop!" Akira chuckled at his friend's reaction, also taking note of Makoto's somewhat elusive blush.

"I'm happy that you're able to do what you want." Akira spoke. "And that you found what you actually wanted to do before it was too late."

Makoto smiled at both of the boys. "Thank you, both of you. I'm not sure where this path will take me, but if there is something that I am certain of, it's that it is a path I want to travel."

"And we'll be there to support ya every step of the way!" Ryuji announced proudly, reigning Akira in with an arm around his neck.

"That really means a lot to me Ryuji." Makoto said, giving the boy a very earnest smile; one that caused the boy's heart to just drop down to his stomach. "Well, I need to be going. Sae will be wondering where I am soon enough. Did you still want to hang out tonight Ryuji?"

Akira, still in the grip of his friend, looked up with a devilish smirk, one that Ryuji chose to ignore. "Uh, yeah! Sure, if it ain't any big deal for ya."

"Don't worry, it isn't. I just didn't know if your plans had changed because Akira's early appearance."

"Nah, it ain't a big deal. I made plans with ya before this numbskull showed up anyhow, and I ain't gonna cancel on ya just `cause of that."

Makoto laughed shortly and softly. "Well alright then. I'll see you later." She turned her attention towards Akira, still in the headlock that his friend put him in. "It was nice seeing you again Akira."

Akira did his best to clear his throat. "Ditto."

Makoto smiled at both of them before pressing past them and saying "Well, until next time then. Good luck on your shopping!." Makoto turned around and walked backwards a few steps, tacking on a playful "Get me something good, Ryuji!"

Ryuji, thankful that she couldn't see his face turn a deep shade of red, responded with "Wouldn't dream of it!" as she walked off towards her train station. Ryuji finally let Akira go—letting him gasp for air—and turned around after Makoto was a good distance away from the two, watching her walk off.

After Akira regained his composure, he slapped his hand on Ryuji's shoulder. "So what now, partner?"

Ryuji sighed heavily. "I have no idea man."

"Well, let's just keep walking then." Akira suggested as he turned back to face the opposite direction Makoto had gone.

Ryuji stood there, ultimately deciding after a minute to nod and turn around with his friend. "Yeah, yeah let's do that."

The two boys walked on in silence, no words being shared between the two. Akira knew that Ryuji was still processing what all just had happened. Despite it not being anything bad, Akira knew his friend well enough that he was comfortable with the fact that it would take some time for Ryuji to figure out what he wanted to do next. Most of the time it was nothing with a few rare exceptions scattered about here and there. Akira had a gut feeling, however, that this time was not going to be one of those times.

"Yo Akira."

Akira turned towards his friend. "Hm?"

"I still dunno what to get Makoto." The boy confessed with a laugh.

Akira matched his laugh. "Maybe you should worry about that one last, huh?"

Ryuji shrugged. "Well I don't want to be spendin' all day on this. We gotta get back by five or my ma will kill me."

"Just take your time." Akira advised the boy. "You have all the time in the world."

"That sounds like a lie."

"Maybe to you, but that lie has gotten me through some pretty rough patches. Try and actually take my advice, alright?"

"Alright, I get it." Ryuji said sourly. "I ain't gonna stress about it too hard then."

"There you go."

"Ya don't think that with her wanting to be a police officer that she'd go for a pair of fuzzy cuffs, do-"

"Ryuji." Akira said sternly, yet a smile was also attached to the statement.

"Fine. You're no fun." Ryuji pouted, although he quickly changed his expression to one similar of his friend.

"I just don't want her to kick your ass on Christmas. Save that for the day after."

Ryuji snorted. "Thanks man. Thanks."

The two continued their back-and-forth in full stride, making their way down the street, goofy smiles adorning their faces the whole way. What Ryuji would get his friends, he wasn't all too sure, but all that mattered to him was that he was at least going to have a good time doing it. They eventually came to an art store, making their way inside to purchase the first gift of the day and Akira using the opportunity to call Sojiro.

* * *

 **Hey all! Thanks for reading the chapter! I hope you enjoyed it! I'm hoping to have the next chapter done relatively soon. That along with one-shots that give some more insight to Akira and Ann's relationship, as well as Futaba and Yusuke's. Not sure when they'll be done, but hopefully soon(tm). Still, thanks everyone for reading! Until next time, have a good life!**


	10. Getting Over It

As Makoto reached the bottom of the station steps, many different things began entering and exiting her mind at a rapid pace. The foremost topics that seemed to be taking up the most time and space, however, were Ryuji and Akira. She had just gotten done with submitting her withdrawal form from her college and then just having to just happen upon both of the boys at the same time? For her, that was just too much pressure in a day. Seeing her new and former crush together, just hanging out so casually, was something that she would need to get used to.

 _What on earth is_ _ **wrong**_ _with me?!_ Makoto smacked herself on her forehead with the palm of her head, most likely leaving a spot that would remain a slight hue of red. _Getting all worked up over some_ _ **boys**_ _?! What the hell am I, some fifteen-year-old girl?!_ Makoto closed her eyes and began to try and breath slowly and deeply, as if she was winding down from her Aikido training for the day. She was convinced that perhaps a few moments of meditation were all that she needed to be able to move on with her day.

Of course, it wasn't going to work out that way.

The thought of the two boys remained in her head, as prevalent as ever. Makoto began to massage her temples, trying to calm down her frustration that was easily increasing with each passing moment that the boys were stuck in her mind. But the thoughts didn't cease, and Makoto's anger only became more prevalent as it went on. Her brows furrowed and her face was becoming a tad more red. Her odd behavior was attracting eyes of almost anyone happening to pass by, unbeknownst to her. Even if she was aware of her surroundings, although she would admittedly be embarrassed at first, she wouldn't care. Makoto would do anything at this point to stop this constant flood of thoughts about the two boys.

"Niijima-san?" Makoto's ears perked at the smooth and familiar voice coming from behind her. "What are you doing out and about?"

When she turned around, she saw Yusuke—no Futaba in sight, oddly enough. Ever since the two went public went with their relationship, they almost seemed inseparable. So seeing the boy out and about on his own again was a bit odd. Still, if Makoto had to venture a guess as to why he's out here, it would be that he is just people-watching again to gain inspiration that will grace his next blank canvas.

"Ah, so it was just you Yusuke. You caught me a bit by surprise."

"My apologies. I didn't mean to alarm you." Yusuke did a slight bow towards the girl. "I see that your cheeks are red. Perhaps you've been out in the cold for too long?"

"Please, don't worry about it." Makoto waved her hand at the boy, now even more embarrassed that someone that she knew may have been watching her. "What are you doing out, if you don't mind me asking."

A sly smile crept up to Yusuke's face. "I'm sure that you're already aware, but watching the people of Tokyo go about their business through the train system has been a splendid way for me to attempt to capture the essence that will help shape my next work of art. Whenever I am not around any of our entourage or painting, you will most likely find me here."

Makoto smiled and let out a single chuckle. "I figured as much. I didn't think you would want to deal with the Christmas crowds, though."

"On the contrary, I prefer it during these frantic holiday seasons."

A single eyebrow raised in surprise on Makoto's face. "Oh?"

"Yes, it may seem hard to believe, but I wholeheartedly enjoy coming out and observing the public during this time of year. The way that they hustle around the city, hurrying to different locales, just to find those few perfect gifts for friends and family alike is just magnificent, dare I say magical. Ever since the disappearance of Mementos, I find these holiday times to be the best when searching for that certain something that fills me with the determination I need to press onward to my next piece."

"Interesting. So you ventured into Mementos to create some of your work?"

Yusuke dawned an expression of dismay. "W-Wait! You weren't supposed to hear that! I just got so caught up in the moment that I let it slip!"

Makoto smirked. "Don't worry about it, Yusuke. It's almost been a year since that all happened anyways. Whatever secrets we had back then are almost negligible. Although it really does bring into question if we were _too_ good at our job if we were keeping things such as that from each other."

Yusuke pondered over this thought for a moment before nodding his head in agreement with her. "I suppose you're correct. I apologize for deceiving anyone; Kurusu-san suggested that I journey into the area. With his help I was able to mold my art into what it is today."

"I see, Akira was the one who helped you." Makoto looked down at the ground, unsure of what emotion she was supposed to be feeling. "Well, he is probably the most capable out of all of us to help you."

"Please Niijima-san, you must give yourself and the others more credit. It wasn't just one single source that helped me become the artist—alas, the person—that I am today. You mustn't think that it was solely due to the help of just one person. Just like any of our operations, it has all been a team effort in the end." Yusuke finished with a proud smile, seeing his friend perk up and put on a smile that mirrored his own. "I'm glad to you see that you're not upset."

"You've certainly helped improve my mood." Makoto confessed. "I was having a bit of a rough time before this talk of ours."

"Ah, may I enquire as to what brought you to that state?" Yusuke rubbed his chin with his hand.

Makoto waved him off once more. "It's nothing Yusuke."

"Obviously that isn't the case otherwise you wouldn't be acting this way." Yusuke remained adamant.

Makoto looked down once again. "I just feel like it's something so silly."

"If it is making you feel this way, perhaps it isn't as 'silly' as you deem it to be?"

Makoto sighed. "Yeah, I suppose you're right." Makoto walked over and placed herself beside Yusuke, leaning up against the wall. Yusuke matched her movements, folding his arms and finding his place against the wall also. "I'm not sure where to begin, honestly."

"Perhaps it would be a good idea to start with what is actually making you feel upset?" Yusuke offered his suggestion.

"To put it bluntly, it has to deal with Akira and Ryuji."

"I see. I can't imagine that they'd actively try to do something that would upset you." Yusuke pondered.

"Well, they didn't. At least, not intentionally."

"Then what seems to be the problem?"

Makoto shook her head. "Look, it's already common knowledge amongst our group that I had asked Akira to be my boyfriend a long time ago."

Yusuke looked down at her in shock. "This is the first time I've heard of such a thing."

Makoto looked back at the blue-haired boy with her own shocked face. "Oh, um...I'm sorry, I just guessed that someone would have told you."

Yusuke looked back forward. "Well, what's done is done. Let's not dwell on it, hm?" He saw Makoto nod out of the corner of his eye, seeing her turn her head back forward. "Continue."

"Well, as you can imagine, he turned me down. He tried his best to be gentle about it, but it still hurt all the same."

"So much that the scars still linger?" Yusuke's question earned another nod from the usually so stern girl. "I could imagine. I never quite felt that way about another person until I realized my feelings towards Futaba, but I could guess that the feeling of rejection would just be soul-crushing."

Makoto gulped down the pain she felt at her friend's blunt observation. "That's one way to put it, yes."

"And so how does Ryuji factor into this?"

"Come on Yusuke, you're smart. Do I really need to say it?" Makoto, in her mind, was practically begging the boy to put two and two together.

"It would certainly help." Yusuke was earnest.

 _Ugh, why are boys so dense?_ "I've unfortunately developed those same feelings that I once had for Akira for Ryuji."

Yusuke cocked his head sideways for a moment, as if in thought, before nodding his head in understanding. "I see. And you say 'unfortunately' because…?" Yusuke trailed off.

Makoto pondered over that question for a moment before shrugging in defeat. "I…I'm not too sure."

"Do you feel that it is _wrong_ to have feelings for Sakamato-san?"

Makoto quickly became apprehensive and turned to look at Yusuke once again, only this time with anger in her eyes. "Wait, what?!"

"I am simply asking you a question." Yusuke replied calmly. "And I'm guessing that, by that reply, I've received my answer. It isn't like you to lash out so suddenly, Niijima-san."

Makoto became red-faced at her friend's conclusion. "Ugh, no. Listen, I don't think it's wrong for me to have these feelings for Ryuji because I think that I'm better than that."

"Oh?"

"I'm more worried about having to deal with the same issue as before."

"You're afraid of being rejected?" Yusuke asked the girl.

Makoto paused for a moment, facing back forward once more and leaning against the wall again. "Yeah," she admitted. "Yeah, I guess I am."

"Tell me, after you were rejected by Akira, did your friendship with him change?"

"Not really. I mean, there was definitely some type of rift between us, but it was nothing that a bit of time couldn't fix."

"Then if nothing happened and most of the wounds have healed up, what is stopping you from pursuing a relationship with Sakamoto-san?"

"I already told you. I'm afraid of being rejected."

"I believe there's something more than that to be hindering your progress." Yusuke turned towards the girl.

Makoto looked back with a confused expression. "What?"

"You're not such a selfish person that you wouldn't proceed with your own accounts just because of your own fears. You're not afraid of rejection; rather, you're afraid of what the rejection will _entail_."

Makoto's gut became tight as if she had just been punched. Amazingly, her friend was probably right. Rejection was something she could deal with. Losing one of her best friends because of some stupid feelings was another thing entirely.

"And as for Akira, it is most likely some form of feelings that linger. I remember reading somewhere that 'No matter the case, your heart will always be set aflutter by the sight of an old flame.' Perhaps seek out what wisdom you see in that statement, hm?" Yusuke tried to remain as polite as he could possibly sound to his friend.

Makoto nodded. "I'll try to keep that in mind. Thanks for the advice, Yusuke."

"It is of no problem to me. I am simply just trying to be as helpful as possible to one of my dearest companions."

"Why aren't you always this levelheaded, hm?" Makoto teased Yusuke, a smirk accompanying her.

"I feel insulted. I may not be what people deem to be such a 'normal' person, but I am much smarter than people give me credit for." Yusuke turned his nose up.

"You keep on skipping meals because you spend all your money on art supplies and constantly mooch off of us." Makoto replied with a stern look of disbelief. "'Eccentric' doesn't even begin to describe you."

Yusuke's eyes shot wide as he dramatically turned away from facing her. "L-Let's not bring up bad habits. My art will help pay you all back tenfold!"

"I'm sure it will, Yusuke." Makoto smiled at her friend, even though he couldn't see her. She checked her phone, noticing that she left it on silent since she left the admissions office at her college. In her notifications, she saw a text from Ryuji. "Well, if you'll excuse me, I have to be going. Thanks again for all the advice and for listening to my problems."

Yusuke turned back towards his friend. "Think nothing of it. If you ever need to vent, feel free to contact me. Or any of the others, for that matter. We may not be the most functional group of friends, but we can certainly be there in each other's times of need when it is most urgent." Yusuke bowed and faced opposite of Makoto again, walking off towards his usual watching spot. "Until next time, Niijima-san."

Makoto watched the boy walk off into the crowd, a slight chuckle coming forth at his usual odd behavior. She then went back to her phone, striking up her response to her friend.

 **Makoto:** _Sorry, I was busy. I ran into Yusuke at the station._

 **Ryuji:** _No biggie. So what time did ya want to hang out?_

 **Makoto:** _Well, I'd still like time to study._

The girl stood there patiently waiting for a response. She concluded that the boy must be thinking about what time he and Akira would be finished with his shopping. For an answer, she received a text moments later.

 **Ryuji:** _Don't you have time for that on our date? ;)_

Makoto instantly stopped her breath, feeling her heart skip a beat. _Wait, what?_ _I-Is he being serious right now?_ She was unsure how to respond. Thankfully, she didn't need to bother as she felt her phone buzz once again. She eagerly looked at it.

 **Ryuji:** _Shit, sorry. Akira wrestled my phone from me and sent that. How's 7 sound?_

Makoto was a mixture of thankful that it was nothing more than a mere prank and disappointed that that is _all_ it was. Still, she kept her disappointment to herself and pressed on with the conversation normally.

Or so she thought. A somewhat dubious plan, unlike her, hit her as her fingers began rapidly tapping up against her phone without a chance to think over if it was a good idea to tease the boy like this. By the time Makoto sent the message, even if she wanted to regret it, it was far too late to do anything about it.

 **Makoto:** _Aw, what a shame. I was looking forward to our little date. ;)_

A fleeting feeling of proudness was all Makoto could feel for a moment. Unfortunately, that's all it was: fleeting. Almost instantly, the regret hit her like a kick in the head and settled in place. _Oh my god_. She was racing over every possibility that she could in her head with no means of escape in sight. _Ohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygod! What did I just do?! What on earth is wrong with me?!_

Sweet relief would soon find its way to her though, as she received a delayed response just a few moments later.

 **Ryuji:** _Um…I mean, if you wanna go on a date sometime, I'd be fine with that._

Makoto was unsure of how to respond at first. Part of her wanted to immediately respond with something along the lines of ' _Are you kidding? Of course I want to go on a date with you!'_ Deciding that that might not be the most appropriate response with the sudden question looming over her head, Makoto instead chose her next words with the upmost care.

 **Makoto:** _We should probably talk about this in person first, huh?_

 **Ryuji:** _Yeah, you're right. I hate to say it myself, but we should wait a few days too. All this crap is a little too sudden._

Makoto frowned, but was very intrigued by the young man's thought. It was oddly mature of him. She kept forgetting that, despite hanging out with him for months now, he wasn't the same idiot boy that she got to know when she first joined the Phantom Thieves.

 **Makoto:** _So we're cancelling the plans then?_

 **Ryuji:** _Yeah, I hate to do it, but discussing it all while I'm still on this little adrenaline high might not be our best idea._

 **Makoto:** _You're right. I'm not doing much better myself. So when do you want to talk about this?_

 **Ryuji:** _I dunno, Christmas? It'd be pretty damn convenient._

 **Makoto:** _I'd like that. I'll talk to you in a few days then?_

 **Ryuji:** _Yeah, of course! I'll see you then! Bye! Get home safe!_

 **Makoto:** _You try and do the same, Ryuji. Bye._

Makoto slipped her phone back into her purse. She couldn't help but just stand there and stare off into space, trying to dissect the situation that just unveiled itself. While backing up to lean against the wall, only one thought could pass the girl's mind.

 _What the fuck just happened?_

* * *

"What the fuck just happened?!"

Akira grabbed onto his friend's hands that were tightly gripped onto his shoulders, trying to prevent the aggressive boy from shaking him any further. "Ryuji, you need to calm down."

"How can I calm down?!" Ryuji said with a huge smile across his face. "You stealin' my phone from me was the best thing you could've ever done, bud!"

"Okay, that's great, but could you please-"

"I would have never thought I'd get this far in a million- no, a _billion_ years!" Ryuji stopped shaking his friend and started jumping up and down in place, pumping his fists into the air as he did so.

Morgana sat perched on a nearby bench where they had just been sitting, taking a break after purchasing Yusuke's present from Ryuji. "It certainly is something amazing. Who knew that a girl like Makoto had such poor tastes." Morgana meowed proudly at his teasing, but it didn't seem to have any effect on the boy as he watched Ryuji continue to jump in place. "Yeesh, I don't know if I've _ever_ seen anyone this happy before."

Akira turned towards his feline friend. "I don't know, there was that one time we went to that really expensive sushi shop."

"Hey, that fish was a gift from god and you know it."

Akira rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to his friend. "So not to bring you down off of your high right now, but she didn't _actually_ say 'yes.' You know that, right?"

Ryuji stopped almost immediately and turned back towards his friend. "Huh? Yeah, of course I know that. Just the fact that she wants to talk about it at all makes me so damn excited!"

"'For real?!'" Akira did his best impression of Ryuji, trying to make it obvious that he was mocking the boy.

It didn't seem to get through, however. "Yeah! For real! God, I can't wait 'til Christmas now!" Ryuji embraced his friend tight. "Yo, fuck whatever you got me for Christmas. This is the best thing you could've done for me, man!"

Akira returned the hug with a smile of his own. "So you're saying I've got myself a new pair of running shoes?"

Ryuji immediately backed out. "Now let's not get too hasty here."

Akira chuckled. "How do we proceed now then?"

Ryuji shrugged. "I dunno, I'm still on a rush right now. Let's hit up that beauty shop a few blocks down to look for somethin' for Ann." Ryuji began pacing off towards that direction and turned back to his best friend. "Oh yeah, dinner's on me tonight, man! Ogikubo ramen for sure!"

Akira wasn't going to argue. He just smile and walked with his friend, who chattered his ears off the whole rest of the way.

* * *

 **Hey guys! So this came out a little bit later than anticipated, but I'm glad it's finally out. I'm hoping to coincide the Ann and Akira thing alongside next chapter's release, so think of it as getting two chapters at once if you really want to read into it. Anyways, thanks everyone for reading and I hope that you have a great day!**


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